Since losing both testicles to TC, he’s become a voice for the gay community and the TC community.
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For more than a year, “Mr. Ballsy” Thomas Cantley featured cancer survivors as part of his campaign of cancer prevention awareness, using #IamBallsy as the hashtag to unite cancer patients and survivors as he spread his positive message. Here is one of those stories.
Today’s story of triumph is brought to you by Andy Coles.
Why am I Ballsy? Interesting question! Can I leap tall buildings, or foil an armed robber single-handedly; probably not (haven’t tried to be honest).
Back in 2006, I had just turned 30 and living my life. I certainly wasn’t thinking about cancer.
I went to my GP with a swollen testicle, and was sent for an ultrasound. Testicular cancer was diagnosed, and the offending orb (my left if you are interested) was removed, and subsequently I was diagnosed with Stage 1 testicular cancer. I was given one dose of Carboplatin chemotherapy and hoped that would be the end of things.
Still not feeling particularly “ballsy” to be honest; I was just doing what had to be done to survive.
Fast forward to 2009 and I developed a pain in my lower back. I read on the www.checkemlads.com website that this could be a sign of a reoccurrence, so I went and saw my GP again. Because of my history, they scheduled me for a CT scan to get a clearer idea of what was going on. The scan showed that I have a prolapsed disc in my back, which was causing the pain, but there was also something worrying them in my remaining testicle. I was given a frozen section biopsy (they open you up, take a biopsy and check while you are still under. If everything is ok, they sew you back up and off you go).
Everything seemed ok, so I was put back together and sent home to heal up.
I was told that they would do some further test on the bit they removed, just to make sure, and I’m glad they did. A week later they called me to say that they had found pre-cancerous lesions in the sample. At the time this was not cancer, but it would be if left to develop further. I was given the option of waiting for things to develop and then fighting it, or to remove my remaining testicle now to save having to go through extra treatments later.
I chose to lose it now.
Losing both testicles means that I no longer produce my own testosterone, so I now have to inject my own supply every 11 weeks. It took a long time to get to the point I am now of feeling ‘normal’ again, but it is worth the fight.
Having TC is rare enough, but a gay man having it is ever rarer. Due to this, and wanting to do something that might make a gay man more inclined to talk to someone about any concerns, Checkemlads approached me to help set up a website that encourages gay men to talk about their cancer concerns, and not just TC but all kinds.www.GMCAC.org.uk (gay men’s cancer awareness community) was set up in 2013, and is just what is says. We are a community helping to raise awareness of cancer in the gay community. It’s still early days, but we are slowly growing bigger each month, we even have celebrity followers on Twitter (follow us at @GMCAC1).
I’ve just turned 38. They say life begins at 40, but this life came into its own when I was 30.
How would you describe ballsy-ness? Well I’ve beaten cancer twice, hopefully helped save a few lives with my work with Checkemlads, started on a life-long dependence on testosterone replacement, and also set up the (I think) UK’s first gay men orientated cancer website. Nothing beats the feeling when you are able to point someone in the right direction to get answers, or be able to provide them yourself, because you have been where they are.
Seems pretty ballsy for a guy without any.
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Photo: Mr. Ballsy and courtesy of Andy Coles
This first appeared as part of Thomas Cantley’s series on Facebook.
And thank you for sharing this!