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Some teenagers think cancer only happens to heavy smokers or old people, but not them. “I never really think about it,” says 14-year-old Maggie. Adds 17-year-old Kelly, “It really hasn’t crossed my mind at all.”
It didn’t cross Alex’s mind either, until three weeks ago. “They did a scan, an X-ray, and that’s when they told me it was testicular cancer,” says Alex Guglielmino, 19.
Under the age of 15, cancer is fairly rare, but between 15 to 19, cancer rates jump by 50 percent. “That’s where you first start to see the rate of cancer begin to increase towards adult levels,” says pediatric oncologist Dr. Louis Rapkin.
But often kids, like Alex, ignore a curious lump or strange pain. “I didn’t want to say anything, just like anybody else,” he says. “Like, I wanted to give it a little more time, maybe it’d go away.”
But he did say something, to a close friend, who told him to go to the doctor right away. A few days later, doctors cut out the tumor, which may have saved his life. “It could have spread anywhere,” says Alex, “the lymph node, the lung, up to the brain.”
That’s why parents should make it clear to their child, say something if they notice anything unusual. “And awareness of your body is something that we should teach all kids from an early age on,” says Dr. Rapkin, “so that the children know when a lump appears it’s not wrong, it’s not bad, it’s not scary to say to their parent, to their doctor, to someone who they’re close to, ‘I think this is unusual, do you want to take a look at it.’”
“I never expected this to be cancer,” says Alex. “You know, that’d be the last thing I expected. But when I found out, it felt good that I went that early instead of waiting another month or whatever.”
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By Amye Walters
CWK Network, Inc.
Most people, men and women alike, know women are encouraged to perform monthly breast self-exams throughout their lives. Most people, men and women alike, do not know men should perform monthly self-exams on their testicles.
More than 215,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and about 40,580 women will die from breast cancer in 2004. Breast cancer can also strike men, with an estimated 1,450 diagnoses and 470 deaths from the disease this year. Every year, 7,500 men in the United States will be diagnosed with a cancer women can never have: testicular cancer.
The testicles are egg-shaped sex glands in the scrotum that secrete male hormones and produce sperm. Testicular cancer accounts for approximately 1 percent of all cancer diagnosed in men. For unknown reasons, the disease is about four times more common in white men than in black men. Almost all testicular tumors stem from germ cells, the special sperm-forming cells within the testicles. In addition, …
- Testicular cancer occurs most often in men between the ages of 15 and 39.
- Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in men between the ages of 20 and 34.
- Young men are at the highest risk for testicular cancer.
- Self-examinations detect most cases of testicular cancer.
- Survival rates for testicular cancer are extremely high.
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By Amye Walters
CWK Network, Inc.
Your son should begin monthly self-exams of his testicles when he reaches age 15. Such self-exams are an effective way for your son to get to know this area of his body. Testicular cancer is very curable, and detecting it at an early stage improves curability. You will find a list of websites with instructions for performing testicular self-exams at: How to Do a Testicular Self Examination.
If your son finds an abnormality, it may just be an infection and not cancer. But if it is testicular cancer, the cancer will spread without treatment. However, free-floating lumps in the scrotum that are not attached in any way to a testicle are not testicular cancer. Most importantly, see a doctor should any warning signs of testicular cancer appear. Warning signs include:
- Any enlargement of a testicle.
- A significant loss of size in one of the testicles.
- A feeling of heaviness in the scrotum.
- A dull ache in the lower abdomen or in the groin.
- A sudden collection of fluid in the scrotum.
- Pain or discomfort in a testicle or in the scrotum.
- Enlargement or tenderness of the breasts.
The most common treatment for testicular cancer is the removal of the cancerous testicle. This procedure does not impair fertility or sexual function. The remaining testicle can produce sperm and hormones adequate for reproduction.
Studies show that the overall cure rate for testicular cancer exceeds 90 percent. The five-year survival rate for stage I testicular cancer is 99 percent. The five-year survival rate for stage II disease, in which cancer has spread to local lymph nodes, is 95 percent. If the cancer has spread beyond the lymph nodes (stage III), the five-year survival rate is around 75 percent. The five-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least five years after their cancer is diagnosed. Five-year rates are used to produce a standard way of discussing prognosis. Of course, many people live much longer than 5 years.
- Teach your child that a self-exam of his or her body is an important step in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, just like eating right and exercising. Young women should perform monthly breast self-exams. Young men should perform monthly testicular self-exams.
- Point out that your child should not be embarrassed to talk to you or a doctor if he notices an abnormality in his testicle.
- Your son might recognize some of the more famous survivors of testicular cancer, including professional cyclist and cancer advocate Lance Armstrong, comedian and MTV-star Tom Greene and former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman John Kruk.
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