Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul details his health challenges, highlights early detection during Cancer Screen Week

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Early detection can be a life-saver when it comes to cancer; Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul knows that personally.

Raoul spoke with ABC 7 Chicago Wednesday, during Cancer Screen Week, which is Dec. 7 to 11.

It was a routine cancer screening nearly five years ago that found he had prostate cancer.

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It was January 2016, and it was Raoul's family history of prostate cancer that compelled him to seek a screening, which caught his cancer at an early stage.

He lost his father and both of his grandfathers to prostate cancer, so he began screenings from his late 30s on. He was 51 when he was diagnosed.

Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer, Raoul said. They are encouraged to be screened earlier in life.