As John Kerry prepares to ride in the upcoming Pan-Massachusetts Challenge to raise money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and cancer research, Bella English of the Boston Globe got a chance to have a chat with him about being a prostate cancer survivor.

Kerry was diagnosed with prostate cancer during his presidential primary campaign in 2002.

“It doesn’t scare me as much as cancer just pisses me off,” said Kerry. “Too many incredible people weren’t as lucky as I was, some because they had a cancer we can’t yet cure, and others because they didn’t get screening or care in time or couldn’t afford great health care. Every American should have the same health care that senators and congressmen get.”

Cancer has touched Kerry and members of his family, and the issues of cancer have been a priority of his for some time. In addition to his prostate cancer diagnosis, his grandfather died of colon cancer, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in 2000, and his ex-wife was diagnosed with transitional-cell carcinoma and died earlier this year.

So instead of letting cancer scare him, he has chosen to be pissed off about it and to do what he can both politically and personally to support cancer research towards a cancer cure, to help people diagnosed with cancer and in addressing the healthcare problem in this country.