In January of 2011, at the age of 31, Nick made an appointment for his doctor to examine a recent area of concern. An ultrasound conducted the next day revealed a mass in Nick’s left testicle, which was removed immediately through a surgical procedure called an orchidectomy. After informing his family of the news, Nick was scheduled to undergo a series of scans, baseline tests and case analysis by a team of oncologists at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. The results revealed that the cancer had spread to some of the lymph nodes in Nick’s abdomen (Stage 2). Therefore, Nick, at the advice of his doctor, began a well-regarded treatment program consisting of three rounds of chemotherapy.

Starting in early May and ending in late June, Nick underwent treatment with the direct help of his mom, cousin and close friends in Calgary as well as the extra support of family, friends and colleagues across various distances. Each three week treatment session consisted of a cocktail of cancer-fighting drugs (bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin), a counteracting regimen of anti-nausea pills, steroids for appetite stimulation, immune system boosters and eventually blood thinners to resolve an unexpected blood clot. While undergoing treatment, Nick privately recorded this series of short videos to document his journey.

Although one major type of testicular cancer (nonseminoma) typically provides oncologists with information regarding a treatment regimen’s degree of success through tumour markers in the blood, Nick’s type (pure seminoma) was different in that his blood did not contain this information. As a result, Nick had to wait until the end of his treatment before he and his oncologist were able to measure the success of the program. Needless to say, it was a difficult and stressful experience for Nick, but thankfully the news he received just after his birthday about the treatment’s outcome was very positive!

Online resources for testicular cancer were limited in the past, because of that Nick shares these video clips today so that they might be helpful to someone about to embark on the same journey.video diary in an “uncut” format – so you can see the real ordeal for yourself.