Nipping It In The Bud: Justin Marotta’s Prostate Cancer Story

As a career horticulturist, Justin Marotta specialized in making things grow. There was one thing he needed to make shrink though: his prostate. For that he turned to a completely different set of experts: Dr. Ronney Abaza and the robotic surgery team at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s.

Marotta, a healthy married father of three, started receiving regular digital exams with his hometown primary care provider in Mansfield back when he was in his 50s. That’s when the American Cancer Society says most men at average risk should start. His physician noted that his prostate was a bit enlarged, so they decided to keep an eye on it. When it continued to grow, he started on a couple of medications that helped with shrinking the gland but produced unwanted side effects.

It wasn’t until Marotta had hernia surgery later on that things got serious.

“My bladder didn’t wake up after the surgery and I wound up in the ER,” he recalled.

After seven weeks of catheters, the bladder finally did wake up but elevated the problem with the prostate. The new urologist who’d taken charge of his care recommended seeing Dr. Abaza. The prostate biopsy that followed turned up issues.

“Because of the size, I had to have a prostatectomy as opposed to other treatment options,” he said. “It was almost 7 ounces. Dr. Abaza said it was one of the largest he’d seen.”

And as one of the most experienced robotic surgeons in Ohio, Dr. Abaza has seen a lot. He and the team at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s used the da Vinci Surgery System to perform Marotta’s procedure. It’s a minimally invasive system that assists surgeons in performing procedures in tight spaces with incredible precision and control.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better team, from the pre-op nurse on up,” Marotta said. “It was during COVID, so unfortunately I didn’t get to see everyone’s faces. They did an amazing job, though, and I was able to go home the same day.

He was able to recover at home without issue, and the tests after his final post-op visit showed he was cancer-free. “I didn’t ring the bell, but I walked out of there smiling!”

Another thing that Marotta and his wife appreciated was the wealth of information and compassion they received through their cancer support group. In 2024, after he was also diagnosed and treated for bladder cancer, he was able to ask the support group physicians if the two cancers were linked. He was assured they were not, with the pesticides from his work the more likely cause of his bladder cancer. “The information and camaraderie were excellent,” he said. “I highly recommend it.”

It also opened his eyes to how common prostate cancer is and how many people are affected by it.

“I had three friends going through it at the same time and didn’t even know it,” he said. “It’s something we should be talking about more. Education is so important, and we need to be encouraging younger men to start talking with their doctors about it sooner.”

He took that crusade to heart, making himself available for genetic testing and talking with his own sons about their risk.

“The Mount Carmel team deserves a lot of credit for their genetics program,” Marotta said. “They’re very thorough but they make it really easy.”

They also made it easy when Marotta won a raffle prize at Men's Night Out: A Prostate Survivor Event to see the DaVinci robot that helped nip his cancer in the bud. He even got a little hands-on demo.

“It’s a really amazing device,” he marveled. “I had robotic tools in the greenhouse back in the day, but nothing compared to this! The 3D imaging and the feel and ability of the tools is just incredible. I can see how it would make a difference in delicate procedures like mine where you’re trying to do something really precisely so you can preserve function and nerve sensation.”

The sensation Marotta enjoys most these days is the joy he gets from spending time with his wife of 53 years and his 10 grandkids. Now that he has a clean bill of health, it’s a feeling he’ll hopefully be enjoying for quite some time.