I am barely qualified to write about surviving cancer which is why I haven’t done before. Six years after my final chemotherapy I am perfectly well, like 98% of other men who get testicular cancer. One in every two men is going to get cancer at some point in their lives. With these stats, this is the one to get.
I am certainly not belittling it. The treatment is grim and it still kills about 60 British men every year. It is the most common form of cancer in men under 35 and if you ignore it, it will kill you for sure. And just a close association with the word is scary enough for your hair to fall out – long before the chemo takes it.
I am not ashamed to admit I was frightened. But as an adult I could somehow deal objectively with what was happening to me, my treatment, even my own mortality. Much as they tried to hide it, nothing I was feeling came close to the helplessness and fear which infected my wife and family. I can barely imagine how children with cancer or their families cope. I can’t even watch it on TV with dry eyes.
Cancer is the generic name for over 200 kinds of tumours. When I was a kid in the 1970s, treatment was less effective and only 1 in 4 people survived cancer. But there were fewer incidents. Now 2 in 4 survive cancer but almost 1000 people are diagnosed every single day. By 2034, it is hoped that 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer but it seems inevitable that an even bigger proportion of the population will be suffering.
For the sake of all the patients and their poor families, Norton & Townsend will continue to support charities like Cancer Research UK on their mission to save 3 in 4. If you would like to donate too, please follow the link.
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/donate
Austen