for yourhealth
Knowing the risks of
testicular cancer
© MAGNUM / AGE FOTOSTOCK
By Rita Colorito
WHEN HER THEN 17-year-old son, Tim
Ellis, complained of excruciating low back
and groin pain, Tracy Grist of Draper, Utah,
rushed him to the ER. “Within an hour of an
ultrasound, we were told he had testicular
cancer and that it had spread to his lungs,
abdomen and aorta, and they weren’t sure
where else,” recalls Grist. “In a blink of an eye,
life changed.”
Tests the next day revealed that Tim’s tes-
ticular cancer had also spread into and past
lymph nodes. Doctors didn’t think he would
live, and told Grist and her family to prepare
for the worst.
While testicular cancer is extremely
rare—a man’s lifetime chance of developing it
is 1 in 270, as compared to a woman’s 1 in 8
lifetime chance of developing breast cancer—
Tim’s grim diagnosis was even more so. If
caught early, testicular cancer has a cure rate
of 99 percent and usually just involves surgical removal of the affected testicle. If the cancer spreads to nearby lymph nodes and not
other organs, with immediate secondary
therapies, such as chemotherapy or radiation,
the cure rate is 96 percent.
“We just expect it to be cured,” says Dr.
Christopher Porter, a urologist and testicular
cancer expert with the Testicular Cancer
Program at Virginia Mason Medical Center’s
satellite office in Seattle.
Promoting the
“awkward”
conversation
IT’S no accident Single
Jingles.org sounds funny.
“We have a fun
name, but there’s a seri-
ous mission behind it,”
says Matt Ferstler, speak-
ing of the testis cancer
awareness group he
founded in 2009 as a col-
lege junior, after his own
testis cancer diagnosis
at age 20. “There’re a lot
of resources out there
once you’re diagnosed,
but there’s not enough
about awareness.”
Ferstler, a Costco
member, chose the orga-
nization’s playful name
to make an awkward
conversation about
monthly self-exams a lit-
tle less so. To explain
self-exams, Single
Jingles.org provides
amusing but informative
shower cards free to
anyone who asks.
Georgetown University
recently ordered Single
Jingles shower cards
to put in every men’s
shower stall on campus.
The cards are also in
200 hospitals and medi-
cal centers throughout
the country.
detection makes a real difference.
In the early stages, there are no symptoms, though some men complain of a feeling of fullness in the groin area or testicle.
Pain in the groin or lower back indicates the
testis cancer has spread, with sometimes
devastating results. The best way to catch it
early is with a monthly self-exam
while showering.
Grist, who has three sons and
four daughters, says she never
knew young men were at risk for
testicular cancer. “I knew about
breast cancer self-exams for my
daughters. I never knew young
men should be doing these self-exams once a month,” she says.
Early detection can also avoid or limit
the use of chemotherapy and radiation,
ensuring better health outcomes. “Those
types of therapies expose these young men—
even though they cure testicular cancer—to
significantly increased risks of other cancers
later in their life,” says Porter. “And the secondary therapies can affect fertility. We’d like
to maintain the quality of life for those men.”
The best way to
catch it early is with
a monthly self-exam
while showering.
These are amazing survival statistics for
any cancer, yet each year 360 men in the
United States die from testis cancer. It’s the
leading cancer in men ages 15 to 35, with
8,590 new cases yearly. Factors pointing to
being at risk include an undescended testicle
at birth or abnormal testicle development,
and a family history of testis cancer. It is
among the fastest moving of cancers, so early
If you suspect testicular cancer, see your
doctor immediately. Studies have shown that
most men wait two months to see their doc-
tor—critical time with this fast-moving can-
cer, says Porter. Tim Ellis had felt discomfort
in his groin for two years prior to his diagno-
sis, but chalked it up to a sports injury.
APRIL 2013 ;e Costco Connection 65
Freelance health writer Rita Colorito plans to
have the awkward conversation with her son
when he hits puberty.
