STERLING – Lon Van Gilder could have traveled the half mile to the local hospital, spent a day in surgery, and been done with treatment for prostate cancer.

But the 60-year-old Sterling man chose to drive almost 175 miles round trip to a clinic in Warrenville, spend a few minutes in treatment 5 days a week for 9 weeks, and avoid many of the side effects – including incontinence and erectile dysfunction – of more common treatments.

Van Gilder had not been to a doctor in almost 10 years, but his wife, concerned about his health ahead of snow-shoveling season, urged him to have a physical last November.