Five minutes’ vulnerability versus living with anxiety and all its symptoms.
That’s what makes sense to 28-year-old Cape Town Dr Michele Vanzaghi who two years ago, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After treatment, he is back to full health.
He’ll be donning a purple Speedo to run with a group of six mates on September 30, to raise awareness for the disease as well as prostate cancer, in one of many Hollard Daredevil Runs to be held across the country.
Vanzaghi was in KZN doing his internship, rotating between Edendale, Grey’s and Northdale Hospitals in the provincial capital, when he realised that a lump on one of his testicles was cause for concern.
“After theatre (that saw the removal of the affected testicle and its replacement with a silicon fitting) I had six months’ chemotherapy as a precaution.”
Now with his hair back, along with youthful energy, Vanzaghi says he is very sociable, attends gym for 90 minutes every day, has been doing his community service in Wynberg, including putting in hours of overtime and says he is reproductively healthy in spite of the removal of one testicle.
“As with everything in the body you need only one, the other is a spare,” he said.
While the experience has not caused him to take his career in the direction of urology – he hopes to one day become an anaesthetist – Vanzaghi said it was hugely beneficial to his medical career.
“It taught me about vulnerability and empathy,” said the Stellenbosch University graduate.
He said the nasty thing about testicular cancer is that it is very asymptomatic.
“It doesn’t present. One comes across as healthy. Then, there’s a lump.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s benign, or something else that doesn’t warrant further treatment.”
Vanzaghi encouraged men, particularly those in the vulnerable age group of 18 to 33, to start off with self-examination.
“One should check one’s self once every two weeks, after a warm shower. Feel each testicle, using both hands in a careful examination.
“If there’s a change in size, if you feel a bump or if it’s painful, it should warrant a presentation to a GP.”
He said the treatment, done through an ultrasound, was neither invasive nor painful.
“There is a lot of awareness with regard to breast cancer in young women, including routine screening. But men don’t know they too need to do it (for testicular cancer).”
The organisers of the event, now in its 13th year, said: “Awareness about cancer can save lives.
“Screening for prostate cancer can mean early detection and treatment before the cancer spreads to other areas of the body.
“With one in six men being diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime, and with black African men being at a much higher risk of getting prostate cancer than any other race group (some research suggests the risk may be close to one in four for this group), awareness about men’s cancer is vital.
“While rarer than prostate cancer, testicular cancer is the most common cancer affecting males between the ages of 15 and 35. With early detection, and a monthly testicular self-examination, this disease can have a high cure rate.”
Entry for the Hollard Daredevil Run costs R160 each. Proceeds from the run will go to the Cancer Association of SA (Cansa) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of South Africa to fund free testing to men in under-resourced areas as well as towards patient support and research.
For further information, visit www.daredevilrun.com
The Independent on Saturday