What cancer were you diagnosed with?

Testicular cancer

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What age were you diagnosed?

25

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What has helped you to thrive?

I am very fortunate to have a strong support network of both family and friends. During treatment, they came with me to chemo appointments, helped me when I was wiped out afterwards and were at the end of the phone when I needed it. I will be forever grateful for them. During treatment, I got great care from the Doctors and Nurses at both Homerton and St Barts Hospitals which also helped me thrive, without them my situation may have been very different. 

Although I was a bit late to the party, finding out about Trekstock after active treatment, meeting other young people has been a breath of fresh air, as during chemo I didn’t meet any patients my own age. Peer to peer support, both through Trekstock and a specialist TC support group I am part of has been a missing piece in my puzzle.

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Jim's Story

Two days after my final exam at university I found a hard lump on the underside of my right testicle which didn’t feel like it should be there. In the weeks prior to this I’d also had a dull ache in my testicle and had a dragging pain in my pelvis, which I’d put down to exam stress. When the lump didn’t subside I went to see my GP, who referred me to a Urologist at my local hospital. Two weeks later, when my friends were celebrating at our graduation ball, I was in theatre having an orchidectomy to remove the testicle. My surgery was on the day of the Brexit referendum which made things slightly more surreal when I properly came to the next morning.

The post-op biopsy came back showing the tumour was cancerous (a non-seminomatous germ cell tumour) and after further blood tests and a CT scan, I was told the cancer had spread to one of my lymph nodes. The treatment for this was three cycles of BEP chemo, the course lasted just short of three months and involved going to the hospital every week either as a day or in-patient. Fortunately, chemo was successful and I went into remission. As I write this I am three years into remission and have had no reoccurrences.