JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Councilman Terrance Freeman announced he is cancer-free one year after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
July 2023 was a good time for Freeman. He was active on the Jacksonville City Council, working at Miller Electric, coaching baseball, married, and a father to five children — four girls and his youngest, a boy.
Then on July 25, 2013, all came crashing down with a single diagnosis.
“It just rocks your world,” Freeman said. “I went into this phase of like, a cancer fog, where I just... all I could keep thinking about was my family. My daughters, you know, ‘Am I going to be able to dance at their weddings’?”
The prognosis wasn’t good. Freeman said 75% of his prostate was filled with cancer cells.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 6 in 10 prostate cancers are diagnosed in men who are 65 or older. Freeman was 48.
“I mentor so many young men in our city who, for whatever reasons, did not have a male role model, male figure in their lives,” Freeman said. “And here I am, thinking ‘Man, my little one might be that’.
While the news was devastating, Freeman said he found the biggest strength in the smallest person. Shortly after birth, his little boy T.J., had low oxygen levels. He spent some time in the NICU. T.J. is happy and healthy, approaching his 2nd birthday.
“I vividly remember the moment when it hit me that my little man fought so hard to be here for us,” Freeman remembered. “The least I could do is to fight to be there for him.”
Freeman opted for proton therapy.
According to the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute, proton therapy is another type of radiation therapy treatment that uses precise high-energy beams to destroy cancer cells. The treatment was hard. Freeman said there were many painful days, and even depression.
Then came the news that changed everything: He was cancer-free.
He said ringing the victory bell was a moment of pure liberation.
“When I was first diagnosed, and that anxiety that hit you all at once, it’s the 180-degree opposite of that,” Freeman said. “It’s a complete shift with that paradigm to where ringing that bell was a real releasing of all of that.”
While most days are good now, the really good days are when he’s back at the baseball fields. Coaching kids is his longtime passion.
Freeman said while he’s turning the page on this part of his journey, his mission is just getting started. He now aims to spread the word about getting screened.
″No one has to die from prostate cancer. If you catch it early, is 97% curable,” Freeman said. “So, we need to do a better job, we can do a better job of getting the word out.”
What’s more, Freeman said he wants to help open the dialogue about this condition, because for some, talking about this isn’t easy.
“I think as, as men in general, we kind of measure our health by how we look in the mirror. I often say women have it figured out,” Freeman said. “I mean, we have a month where it’s buddy check, and we have open dialogue. But with men, there’s a stigma, that there’s a sign of weakness if you’re facing some type of medical condition. I really want to try to help break that wall down.”
Freeman said the path to healing wouldn’t have happened without his strong support system — there’s also something else.
“Once I freed myself up from always making my response, ‘Good, I’m fantastic,’ even though I’m not. And look, people asked and I’m not at my best today. I’m hurting, that was when I started really embracing the process, and the journey and the struggle. And so that will be one thing is just don’t be afraid to make yourself vulnerable. If you’re not feeling your best, that’s okay.”
Freeman said over the last year, several men have reached out to him asking for advice and information about this condition. He said he wants to continue to be a source of comfort and information.