Tom and Adriana Milana: A Family Mission to Change Men’s Health
From a frightening diagnosis to a growing national network, Man Cave Health is making prevention more approachable and support more personal.
In 2016, Tom Milana went for a routine blood test feeling perfectly well. Nothing hurt. Nothing seemed out of place. Yet an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) result led to a prostate cancer diagnosis and surgery. Ten years later, the experience still shapes his life, and the lives of men he may never meet.
“I often think about how easy it would have been to skip that test,” Tom says. “A simple blood test saved my life. I couldn’t just move on from that. I wanted every man to have the same chance I did.”
At home, Adriana was living the other side of that diagnosis. “Tom felt completely fine, so the diagnosis came out of nowhere, and in some ways that made it harder to accept,” she recalls. “I tried to stay strong for him and for our family, but the weeks around his surgery were some of the longest of my life.”
Cancer reaches far beyond the person diagnosed. It changes the rhythm of family life, brings uncertainty into ordinary days, and can leave lasting emotional consequences for spouses, children, and loved ones. When a father is lost to cancer, his absence can shape a child’s life for decades. That is why the Milanas’ mission is about more than a screening: it is about giving men access to information, care, and support, and giving families a better chance at more time together.
A Different Kind of Waiting Room
Tom recognized that getting men to discuss their health wasn't simply about offering a test. Pride, fear, and discomfort could keep them away. “Many men are raised to tough things out, so if nothing hurts, they assume they’re fine,” he says.
The first Man Cave offered an unexpected answer: a screening center with signed sports memorabilia, large-screen games, and a coffee bar. It felt more like a place to gather than a clinical waiting room. Tom wanted men to relax enough to ask questions they might otherwise avoid. The concept took shape in New York, including a flagship facility at Mount Sinai.
But a welcoming room could only help men who walked into it. “The bigger barrier was getting men there in the first place,” Tom says. “So we put the Man Cave on wheels.” The resulting Van Caves bring free PSA screening opportunities and education to community events, often where men are already spending their time.
Sports became a natural entry point. At the HBCU New York Classic at MetLife Stadium, Pocono Raceway, and college football tailgates, screenings can become a shared activity rather than an intimidating solo appointment. “When a man sees his friends lining up to get tested, he’s far more likely to join them,” Tom says.
A Partnership That Reached California
The organization’s growth has depended on more than vehicles and events. Relationships with healthcare partners give its outreach a medical foundation, while support programs help men continue the conversation after the initial encounter. Man Cave Health’s history includes a New York facility at Mount Sinai and a men’s health hub established with UCI Health in Southern California. The UCI partnership became a meaningful milestone for Tom, marking a shift from a New York initiative to a broader effort.
Southern California now plays a prominent role in the organization’s work. In 2026, its outreach included the Milken Global Conference, the Blue Cruise in Newport Beach, and the Blue Jacket LA Fashion Show in Hollywood. In late September, Man Cave Health also partnered with UCI and community organizations for free screenings at the Crenshaw Family YMCA in South Los Angeles, bringing health services into a familiar neighborhood setting.
The point is not simply to collect a test sample and move on. The broader model combines awareness, access to healthcare partners, and continued support, helping men take the next step when a result or conversation raises questions. A PSA result is not a cancer diagnosis; an elevated reading may require follow-up with a clinician, and testing decisions should consider age, family history, individual risk, and the benefits and limitations of screening.
Founded in 2018, Man Cave Health has grown from two states into an expanding national network, most recently activating in Nevada, its 11th state, with additional markets on the horizon. After screening approximately 1,200 men in 2025, the organization expects to at least double that number in 2026. In a ten-day stretch in September alone, the organization screened more than 1,200 men. Through its growing network of Van Caves and partnerships with leading healthcare systems, Man Cave Health is building the capacity to screen 8,000 to 10,000 men in 2027, with five Van Caves operating at full capacity.
The Work Comes Home
For Adriana, the mission remains inseparable from the family that first experienced Tom’s diagnosis. “When you hear the word cancer, the schedules and the small worries fall away, and what’s left is each other,” the couple reflects. “We leaned on one another in a way we never had to before.”
That closeness continues amid a full schedule of restaurants, family commitments and philanthropic work. “We’re a team, and we’ve learned to divide and conquer,” Adriana says. “Tom is always thinking about the next van and the next event. I try to keep us grounded and make sure we still make time for family.”
She remembers the turning point after surgery: Tom kept asking about men who would never get a PSA test. “I think I knew then that this wasn’t going to stay a private story,” she says. Watching that question grow into screenings nationwide has been one of her proudest experiences.
Their children have grown up seeing the work firsthand, from the family foundation’s annual golf outing to community events. “We’ve tried to show our children that your hardest moments can become the thing that helps someone else the most,” they explain. It is an unusually tangible lesson in philanthropy: giving back as a family practice, not merely a fundraising occasion.
Beyond the Screening
Man Cave Health also recognizes what happens when a man leaves an event, receives a concerning result, or faces treatment. Tom knows that men may try to manage fear privately to avoid worrying their families. The organization’s free virtual support groups offer an alternative: peer conversations and guidance in a welcoming setting.
Its longstanding online group meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, and a West Coast group launched in September 2026, meeting on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m. Pacific. The addition makes it easier for California participants to connect at a practical hour. These groups offer support, not a substitute for professional medical care.
“Hearing another man say, ‘I’ve been exactly where you are,’ can mean more than any brochure,” Tom says. He also makes time to speak directly with men who reach out after a high PSA result or while considering surgery. For him, that personal contact is not separate from the mission; it is the mission.
The messages that stay with him often come from wives and daughters thanking the team for encouraging a loved one to seek care. “You can talk about numbers all day,” he says, “but when you read a personal story and realize there is a real person, and a real family, on the other side of that test, it is incredibly empowering.”
What Comes Next
Tom wants the Van Caves to keep growing, but he sees a bigger challenge: why so many men postpone routine medical care in the first place. Is it cost, lack of time, fear, pride, or the absence of a trusted physician? The answer matters because lasting change means more than a single successful event.
“Our real impact will come when those men start going to the doctor on their own, every year, without anyone having to push them,” he says. He hopes to encourage regular visits and appropriate screening decisions made with a clinician.
Adriana measures the journey differently, through the memory of two people sitting frightened in a doctor’s office and the family they have built around that experience. “I’m most proud that something so frightening became something so hopeful,” she says in their shared reflection. “I hope people remember that our family took its hardest moment and used it to protect other families.”
Their achievement is not that they found a way to make cancer less serious. It is that they found a way to make talking about it less lonely and seeking care less difficult. A decade after Tom’s diagnosis, the Milanas are still working on the same question that first moved them: how many more men might take action if someone made the first step easier?
Learn more about Man Cave Health, screening events, and free support groups at https://mancavehealth.org/.
