In 2006 I ran the Gate River Run 5k in Jacksonville, FL and finished with a pretty good time. Then my wife and I had a baby and well I didn’t have time to run with having a very small child. Shortly after the birth of my child I started to have pain in my left Testical and was diagnosed with Epididymitis. There was never a blood test run for cancer. I had several ultrasounds of my testicals and those showed no cancer. Had a blood test been done I believe it would have been diagnosed earlier.

I had my left testical removed on 12/18/08 they did a biopsy of it and it showed no cancer. I was preparing to run the 5k again and I started to feel like I had no energy and could tell something was not right.  I had high blood pressure and my kidneys were not functioning properly. My doctor ordered a scan of my kidneys for my Urologist to look at. I never made it to the appointment to have the scan read because just days later after working in my garden I began to have extreme pain in my kidney. When it didn’t go away I called the doctor and then went into the Emergency Room. I was admitted on March 12^th of 2009 and scheduled for a biopsy the next day.

The pain was being caused because my Left Kidney was not able to drain because the cancer was in the way. This was what had been causing my kidney problems. I didn’t get to do the Gate River Run 5k in Jacksonville, FL that weekend because I had a Nephrostomy bag  installed to help drain my left kidney and was in the hospital for a week. I was set up with an Oncologist and was advised of treatment options.

My Urologist had said I didn’t have cancer so this was a shock to me. I was told I was at the upper age range for Testicular Cancer and that I could not have it. So I have to tell everyone out there if you have pain in your testicals that you should have a blood test for cancer. The Doctors now believe that the cancer had moved from my left testical and moved to my kidney. I was also having the high blood pressure because the cancer had grown also around an artery.