Reporter shares battle with testicular cancer

There may be nothing scarier than to get a cancer diagnosis.

But as Philadelphia television reporter Terry Ruggles found out early detection can be the key to saving your life.

This is what a cancer looks like. A malignant tumor Dr. Louis Keeler found when he removed Terry’s left testicle.

“They come from the germ cells. The cells that make your sperm,“ said Keeler.

This tumor was about a half an inch.

Dr. Keeler says if I had waited rather than seeking help when I found a hard spot on my testicle, things could have been much worse.

Time is a key factor when it comes to detecting and treating cancer.

“It would double in size in two to four weeks,“ said Keeler.

Symptoms of testicular cancer include a hard spot on the testicle, pain or swelling in the testicle, pain in the groin, lower abdomen or back.

“Early detection is very important,“ said cancer survivor Bruno Pouget.

Like me, Bruno Pouget discovered his cancer during a self examination after a workout.
And like me, Bruno was surprised because the tumor seemed to come out of nowhere.

“There will be a time when every week a person’s tumor has doubled in size,“ said Oncologist Dr. David Vaughn.

Dr. Vaughn says time is very important.

If a tumor goes undetected or the longer you wait to have it removed, the more you are at risk.

“Cancer cells having spread from the testicles to the lymph system and the blood system and then end up in other places,“ said Vaughn.

It’s the rapid growth that makes early detection so important.

And when you discover something out of the ordinary you have to act.

“Three or four months waiting to be taken care of could be enough time to allow the cancer to escape and have a much worse prognosis,“ Vaughn said.