HarrysStory

A self written blog about my own experiences with cancer and mental health

[harrysstory]

So, what next...

First of all I apologise about the break that I have taken from posting on here, university and work has recently engulfed my life and with a gap in my schedule I have decided to get back on track with the blog!

Let’s talk about chemo! First of all I want to start off by making it clear that everyone has different treatment plans depending on there diagnosis and aggressiveness of their cancer.

I underwent quite intensive treatment over a short period of time. My chemotherapy was called BEP chemotherapy and involved 3 weeks of having specialised medications running through my veins for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Pretty grim....

My symptoms varied each day, vomiting, diarrhoea, fatigue and muscle aches just to name a few. At the time of my treatment it was peak covid so I wasn’t able to have any visitors. If I’m 100% honest, I didn’t want any visitors, I lost 2 stone in weight, my eyes were sunken and the fun, healthy lad wasn’t there anymore and that’s not what I wanted my family / friends to see me in such a vulnerable state. Dad visited once apparently but I can’t remember as I was well out of it with all the medications that were being pumped into me.

If I’m honest this section of the blog is possibly going to be the smallest part. Mainly because I can’t remember most of that point of my cancer but also because like I said, everyone is different, every body takes to chemotherapy different and I just wanted to briefly share my experience of actually being on the concoction of medications.

Symptoms after the chemo had finished varied from losing my hair (as seen in the pictures), losing up to 2 stone to what I believe was the trigger for my mental health struggles (which will be spoken about in more detail in the future).

I apologise if this section was slightly boring however it’s a bit part of my life over the past 2 years. Please feel free to ask any questions about anything cancer related and I’ll do my best answer!

Enjoy the pictures! My next few blogs will talk more deeply about my mental health struggles, triggers and coping mechanisms!

[harrysstory]

No. 4. Normalising talking about Cancer!  

So todays blog we’re going to take a quick detour from my own story and talk about some facts surrounding cancer and specifically testicular cancer. Like i said in my last blog, we all know it exists, but how much do we know? 

Well, let’’s start off strong and upbeat! (please don’t ask me for references, i have enough trouble doing my uni ones! Let me assure you, they’re all from credible websites.. 

1. Cancer doesn’t discriminate! it can effect every single one of us at any point in our lives

2. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, averaging at approximately 9.5 million deaths a year globally. (just incase you was wondering how many people that is, it’s more than the population of London!) 

3. Approximately 17% of deaths are as a result of a form of cancer. 

4. Over 2015 - 2017, there were 367,167 cases of cancer in the UK, with 166,533 unfortunately dying from the disease. (i struggle to find any recent statistics sorry!) 

5. Of the above 367,167 cases in the UK, 2,292 identified the testicles as being the source of the cancer. 60 people were recorded to have died over the space of 2 years. (I know you’re thinking this number is small in the whole scheme of things but please remember, it doesn’t take long for this cancer to spread to the lungs or other vital organs!) 

6. Early recognition of testicular cancer results in the survival rate being in the 90%+ region. (I can’t stress this enough, EARLY RECOGNITION RESULTS IN EARLY DIAGNOSIS WHICH RESULTS IN EARLY TREATMENT WHICH RESULTS IN POSITIVE OUTCOME! 

7. As seen in the above picture testicular cancer mainly effects males between 20-35 however can effect all ages! 

8. In most cases, a procedure called an orchidectomy (removal of the tumorous testical is removed) is carried out. However, in some cases (like mine) the cancer may have spread and chemotherapy may be required. 

9. In a mans lifetime, the chances of him dying from testicular are approximately 1:5000. That seems low right? They were the same odds as Leicester winning the premier league, look how that ended!

10. TESTICULAR CANCER IS THE MOST COMMON CANCER IN YOUNG MEN! 

I’ve attached a self examination picture. Gents, if you don’t already, CHECK YOUR BALLS! if you find something strange, lumps bumps or bruising GET IT CHECKED! 

(I’ll be back tomorrow continuing my story of testicular cancer!) 

[harrysstory]

No. 3. The Dreaded ‘C’ Word…. First of all i think it’s important that we address this matter head on. We’re talking about cancer. A disease in which 1 in every 2 of us will be affected by at some point in their lives. A disease that rips through families with no remorse or guilt as to who it effects, And a disease which has effected both me and my family in recent years. 


Like most kids growing up, even into my teens, i feel like i was sheltered quite a bit from cancer, i knew it was a horrible illness but that’s as far as my knowledge went really. We were extremely fortunate to never have been directly effected by cancer as a family when i was growing up, even when it was brought up in conversation or i saw it on the tele, it was almost like it was a bit of a taboo subject (and i feel like this is similar in most households).


first became majorly aware of cancer when my dad shared a story of his own cancer scare when he was 21. Without going into too much detail, dad found a lump, no larger than the size of a small pea on one of his testicles when he was doing a routine check. After leaving it for about a week or two he decided to get it checked out at the doctors however the checks they did were inconclusive, at that point he was sent for surgery to remove the lump. Luckily the results came back negative and it was found to be a harmless cyst! 


Whilst the results were a positive, it certainly scared my dad (as it would anyone!) and he was probably the first major influence i had when it came to carrying out full and extensive checks on my two boys down there! 


My dads scare also gave me an excuse to bring up the conversation of lumps and bumps on my own balls when i had found something myself… I think my conversation starter was “what was dads’ lump like mum” and that was that!


(As stated in my previous post, these posts are a daily thing for as long as it takes to spread my story and my awareness! The next one will be on tomorrow at around the same time. Please remember this is all about spreading awareness as i know i’m not the first and will not be the last to have a story like this so please like, share, comment, ask questions, ANYTHING)

[harrysstory]

No. 2. The Start of my Troubles... 

This is me, a whole 12 years ago, at 9 years old is where we’re going to start. And just before we get started, it’s important to know that my balls have not been my best of friends from the get go!

I remember being in the boys communal changing rooms after school swimming and one of my best mates at the time, rather inquisitively asked “why isn’t yours as full as everyone else’s” (i think we know what we’re talking about here :/ ).

Obviously quite confused about the observation, 9 year old me brought that rather embarrassing subject up to my parents, who quite understandably shared my concern and took me to the doctors the next day. 

The doctors later confirmed that i had ‘undescended testicles’. For those who aren’t aware, these pesky buggers normally descend from the abdomen at birth but in some cases can take up to 6 months to fully descend into their ‘new comfy home’ shall we call it... at this point, it’s been 9 years... Oooops!

Understandably both my mum and dad felt an enormous sense of guilt. But in reality, how are they supposed to know about a subject if parents/carers are not educated about it? After talking to other families, most parents didn’t even know undescended testicles is a thing? 

1 in 25 boys suffer from undescended testicles and a further 1 in 100 boys suffer from it to the point in which they require surgery. 

unfortunately my two little marbles didn’t come down and long story short, after numerous consultations, i underwent a 2 hour operation to bring them down to their ‘nice new home’ shall we call it? 

After that i returned to living the full life of a young lad; mates, football, school and just growing up in general! However, it was not made clear to myself or my family of the possible repercussions that having undescended testicles for 9 years would have on my future, things like fertility, testosterone, and most importantly that there is a 8% increased chance of developing testicular cancer later on in life.

Would knowing this make me more vigilant when it came to checking myself as a lad? Yes i believe so.

Would knowing this prepare me for what i experienced?  Great questions which i don’t know the answer to myself just yet.

(As stated in my previous post, these posts are a daily thing for as long as it takes to spread my story and my awareness! The next one will be on tomorrow at around the same time. Please remember this is all about spreading awareness as i know i’m not the first and will not be the last to have a story like this so please like, share, comment, ask questions, ANYTHING)

[harrysstory]

NO. 1

Hello everyone! First of all i am completely new to this platform and have little knowledge on how to use it so please bare with :) 

I’ll quickly introduce myself, i’m a 21 year old student paramedic living and working in the UK. I thought i’d come across to Tumblr to share a bit about my story of being diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 20, overcoming it, the physical and mental effects it had on me at the time and the mental effects which i’m suffering from currently. 

Please be aware there may be some quite sensitive topics within my posts and i just ask that everyone remains respectful. 

So please please please don’t be scared to ask questions and please drop me a follow and share and lets see if we can get the awareness of cancer and mental health spread around. 

This is by no means an attempt to gain sympathy but a way of therapy for myself while spreading awareness of two of the most relevant killers in the world at this moment.

My first blog post will begin tomorrow!