As Printed in: Lordsburg (New Mexico) Liberal
By Chris McManes
(Posted with permission from the writer)

WASHINGTON (OCT. 12, 2004) – Before the second round of two-day Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series events, Owen Washburn usually spends his time relaxing or making public appearances and signing autographs. But on Saturday Sept. 18, he spent most of the day filming a TV commercial about a promising treatment for prostate cancer.

The commercial, which was shot in Laughlin, Nev., was produced for the Theragenics Corp. of Buford, Ga., a leading producer and seller of implantable radiation devices used to treat cancer. Washburn is promoting the company’s premier product, TheraSeed, which has been used to treat more than 100,000 men with prostate cancer, including former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Christine Jacobs, Theragenics chairman, president and CEO, chose Washburn after seeing the Lordsburg, N.M., resident perform on numerous televised PBR events earlier this year. She said she felt an affinity with him because the TV announcers kept saying that the former world champion, for one reason or another, could no longer live up to his lofty past. At the time, Jacobs was being told that her company couldn’t do something she wanted to do.

Following his major PBR victory in Nashville, Tenn., in June, Washburn flew to Atlanta to meet with Jacobs and tour Theragenics headquarters. He impressed her with his humility and genuineness.

“He did not resemble the professional athletes and some of the people that I’ve been exposed to in my corporate life,” Jacobs said. “Many of them think of themselves as larger than life. Owen is not like that. He is a humble, simple man who didn’t pretend to be anything different than what he was.”

Jacobs hired Washburn to help her company reach men in the heartland of the United States who, Theragenics research shows, are unaware of her company’s less-invasive prostate cancer treatment.

“It’s not that people know about it and don’t like it, it’s the fact that people don’t know about it in certain parts of the country,” said Washburn, who is believed to the first bull rider to serve as a spokesman for the medical community. “On the East coast and West coast, people know about it. But in rural areas of the South, Southwest and Midwest, I don’t think people know about it at all.

“So that’s the goal of our message – to let people know that treatments options do exist.”

Traditional prostate surgery carries a minimum eight-week recovery period and requires hospitalization. A TheraSeed procedure, on the other hand, is done on an outpatient basis and takes about 45 minutes. These men are usually able to resume normal functioning in about three days. The long-term cure rate for men treated with TheraSeed is equal to that of traditional prostate surgery, and the risk of incontinence and impotence is lower.

The American heartland ranchers that Theragenics is hoping to reach with Washburn’s help could benefit greatly from TheraSeed. These men, who cannot afford to be out of work for weeks to months, can return to work in 72 hours following the procedure and be back on their horses in about two weeks.

Washburn’s 30-second TV commercial is being test-marketed in San Antonio as part of a radio, TV and print advertising campaign. He’s tentatively scheduled to appear on at least one radio talk show and one morning TV show. If the campaign succeeds in San Antonio, Jacobs said it could expand to other cities in 2005.

The Outdoor Life Network, which televises PBR events, plans to run a vignette on Washburn that will include his work for Theragenics, and Jacobs is looking into advertising on the new PBR Radio Network.

Washburn, 32, is enjoying another successful season. After finishing fifth in the world last year, the 1996 PBR World Champion stands 11th in the 2004 Built Ford Tough Series standings. The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder won two premier PBR events this season and will participate in his ninth PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, Oct. 22-24 and Oct. 28-31.

As impressed as Jacobs is of Washburn the bull rider, she’s more impressed with Washburn the man.

“Owen’s value system really appealed to me,” she said. “If somebody is going to help represent a product that is as serious and life-saving as this one, I want them to be a good citizen, a good dad, a good father and a good husband, because Theragenics has come too far for me to take a risk on a program like this and not have somebody of strong moral character.”

Chris McManes has covered the Professional Bull Riders since 1996 and will attend his eighth Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas later this month.

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