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A Testicular Cancer Survival Story with a Dog, Quality Care & Giving Back, with Brett Hoffland, episode 24
Welcome to Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer, where cancer survivors, caregivers, and others touched by cancer share their stories. The Max Mallory Foundation presents this podcast in honor and memory of Max Mallory, who died at age 22 from testicular cancer. I'm your host, Joyce Lofstrom, a young adult and adult cancer survivor, and Max's mom.
JOYCE: Hi everyone, this is Joyce and with me today is Brett Hoffland. Brett is a testicular cancer survivor. He's also a weekend anchor and reporter with KSTP-TV in Minneapolis. So, Brett is with us to tell his story and share insights on surviving testicular cancer. Brett, I'm so glad you could join me today.
Brett: Oh, it's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
JOYCE: Well, I always like to begin and ask our survivors, you know, to tell us your story. Just share anything that you would like about what happened with your testicular cancer journey.
BRETT: Sure. It was last – it was spring of 2020. I can oddly remember the dates, the times of everything. But I started – my dog – I'll first introduce my dog, Scooby. It's a little wiener dog mix. He jumped on my area down there one evening and it hurt like any other guy would experience when that happens. The pain went away. Didn't think much of it. But then the next day, I noticed that my right testicle had enlarged. Maybe three times what normally it would be. And it was a cause for concern. It felt a little off. And I kept monitoring it for a few more days. Nothing changed. And then I contacted my doctor. He said, probably just some trauma. Don't worry about it. And then it didn't go away in two weeks. So that's when I contacted him again. And sure enough, I went in for all the tests that you're supposed to do in case there's something that may be wrong and that's when I found out I had testicular cancer.
JOYCE: So what happened next? You find out and then what did you have to do?
BRETT: Yeah, it was pretty much immediate. We had the testicle removed I think a few days after that, maybe it was a week or two. Then from there, it was kind of a waiting game where as you may know, there's a lot of different paths to testicular cancer, whether or not the cancer has spread. And I was getting all sorts of different possibilities that I had to prepare for. And the likely scenario, I had stage 2A testicular cancer, which if you're not familiar, it means it's starting to spread, but it may be contained to certain areas. So, it goes from your lymph nodes in your stomach to your lungs to your brain eventually. There was some concern that it had spread to my stomach or my lungs. We monitored it for – I think they gave me a month or so to where my blood levels had to normalize to a certain level. We were all on board. We were ready. Hey, okay. The plan was to have a surgery to remove the lymph nodes that were of concern. And then one day, I'll never forget, I got the call again. They said, your blood levels that detect the testicular cancer have risen again. And that meant one thing and one thing only, and that was chemotherapy.
JOYCE: Okay. Yes, I remember that too, with Max [Mallory]. So, share anything you want with that next step too, just for our listeners.
BRETT: Of course. That's when we decided, okay, we have to do chemotherapy. There's no other way to beat this but chemo. I went down to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and had nine weeks of very intense chemo where it was essentially five days straight, weekend off, Monday, and then I would have three different cycles of six days per week, or seven days every cycle, I suppose. I'm trying to put it all together here.
Anyway, we stayed down there a few days during the long stretches, and then we would come home for the longer stretches where we didn't have to be down there. We went through it, and sure enough, I got the all-clear, as the doctor said to us in the waiting room, as we were anxiously awaiting that day in August: your cancer levels are gone, and so we'll just have to keep monitoring, but you beat this thing. So, it was a sigh of relief, but it was a surreal experience.
JOYCE: I'm sure it was, and I want to ask you too about where you had your treatment because I know you said you went to Mayo Clinic and I think a lot of people are interested in how survivors decide where they go for treatment and what that means. So, I would be interested in your take on that, selecting Mayo as your health provider to take care of you.
BRETT: Sure thing. This is no knock on any of the doctors here in the Twin Cities. We had our initial surgery with doctors here in the Twin Cities. Then when we realized we had to do chemo, Mayo Clinic--it's one of the most recognizable names in medicine and doctors in the US and in the world. To know that it's only an hour and a half away from us, we were willing to make that drive just to make sure. Again, I think that as people look at what care they'd like to receive, you want to make sure that you're comfortable with the people that you're going to be seeing every day, the nurses, the doctors. And we just had a really good feeling when we went down to Mayo. And actually, we contacted Mayo even before I knew I needed chemo, because just on the off-chance that things don't go right, we wanted to see what the care would be like there. And so we had already been in communication with them when we got the news that we needed chemo. And so I say we, I say ‘we’ often just because, you know, it's something my wife and I went through together. And so that's, that's something that I personally take on myself. I don't consider [only] myself with cancer. My wife, you know, her life changed as much as mine in a lot of ways. So that's why I use the word we. But yeah, Mayo Clinic was the right direction for us. And we certainly were thrilled with the care that we received there.
JOYCE: Well, you touched on a couple of points that I think are worth mentioning. One is that your wife was right there with you, and you had that support, which I think is very important to anyone going through cancer, any kind of cancer. So, I'm glad that you had your wife with you and through the journey. And I think on Mayo, what I've read too about testicular cancer, and I think it's probably true for many cancers, but testicular cancer is one that's It's more rare, I'll say, in terms of the frequency of it. And to go someplace where A, you feel comfortable, like you said, but also B, where, you know, they've treated this cancer, they know what to do, they can look at your situation and put it all together for you. Not that other health centers can't do that. They can, but you want to find the right place. I appreciate you sharing that because I think that's important.
BRETT: To that point, one thing that my wife and I truly loved is my primary doctor there. He specialized in almost exactly the type because there are many different, I guess, maybe ‘type’ isn't the right word, but stages I think is maybe the better word of testicular cancer. And he treated my specific stage, whereas someone else may have done a different procedure with me. And that was so reassuring to know that his expertise was exactly the type of cancer that I had.
JOYCE: Wow, that's really important. I mean, that's really nice that you found that. That's something to, I think, really congratulate you on. I mean, I know you didn't know that when you went there, but I just think it's so nice to have that specialty. [This] kind of leads me into the question about just people being familiar with testicular cancer. And I think in one of the interviews I watched with you and your wife, you both had talked about that. And I mean, were you familiar with it at all when you found out that you had it?
BRETT: Not at all. I think the only thing I knew about it is Lance Armstrong. I had heard years ago that he went through it, and that's the only thing I learned about it. And I don't even remember, I don't have recollection of growing up and checking my testicles to make sure that they were the right size. I didn't even know what the right size was. That was the scariest part to me is that through this whole experience, I talked to my friends and family, and they all check themselves now monthly and make sure, because this is something that I was not familiar with at all.
JOYCE: That's another good point that I've learned too in doing the podcast, and really just thinking about my own two boys, I don't think they had any guidance on checking their testicles and there are so many young men that have said the same thing, and it brings me back to the thought of making sure that parents can talk with the pediatrician or it's a young person's cancer, but whoever the doctor is, or educate your sons to do it.
BRETT: You kind of have to take your health into your own hands in a lot of ways. Because I went to a physical every year growing up and thought I was getting the right, not to say I wasn't getting the right care, I certainly was, but I don't know how long I had maybe the symptoms or maybe my testicle didn't feel the right way. I mean, was this a long process where it could have been caught? I actually had a physical about a month before I was diagnosed and there was no mention of any issues. And so that was the real alarming part of this whole thing is that I didn't know what to check for.
And that's something that's so important for young men and, and older men, because, you know, it is a young man's cancer, as you said, but, it can happen in a wide range of men. And I've had so many men reach out to me, uh, because of my, uh, profession [and] viewers and they've asked me questions and I've always said to them, if you have any doubt or any concern, go see your doctor and talk to them about it because it doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt to see a professional.
JOYCE: Correct, and I think that's wonderful advice, because I know that's probably the easiest thing to do, but it's also the safest and the most recommended, because you are going to that professional who would know what to do. So, I know you did chemo, you talked about going up to Rochester. How was it for you and your wife, because this all happened during COVID, and so often going through chemo, you have somebody there with you and as a support person, was she able to be with you during those times or…?
BRETT: Yeah, this was, many of us will never forget 2020 for the year that it was, but to add cancer on top of it, it was certainly a trying time. During the initial tests that I would have to do, I was the only one allowed in the doctor's office. So up here in the Twin Cities, I could not have my wife, Mary, with me in there. And so, it was a very lonely experience. But once we started chemo, I was allowed to have a guest with me. So, Mary was in the room for every single treatment. She made the trips with me, and it was such a wonderful experience to have her right next to me, even though it was a hard experience just having her right there. I can't imagine what it would be like to not have anyone by my side during the actual chemo part of it, because those are long days. Those are long treatments. But you mentioned, yes, going through this during COVID. I didn't see my family for months because of my compromised immune system. I couldn't, I couldn't, I mean, like many people who couldn't do and see many people, but I couldn't really see anybody because if I got COVID, my doctor told me, you know, your blood cell, your blood counts are so different than someone who's healthy. And so, if you did get COVID, it was an extreme risk. And so that just added to it and added to the loneliness of going through this whole thing.
JOYCE: Right, right. What do you think was the biggest challenge that you faced during your testicular cancer journey?
BRETT: I think a couple of things, I think I just touched on one of them is that's the loneliness of kind of dealing with cancer with just my wife. My wife obviously was my strongest friend and advocate this whole time and she helped me get through this, but not having a friend to pop over and just say how you're doing or my mom or dad in town, those type of things really got to me. I know it got to both of us because my wife couldn't see her friends or family because of the whole COVID thing.
But something more ‘big picture’ that may apply to others is, as we've talked about, this is a young man's cancer. And I was, what, 32 when I was diagnosed. And so, I went on a run like four days before I was diagnosed. And to feel like I had cancer and like what did I do wrong to get cancer typically you associate cancer with smoking or eating bad or not exercising, but the doctors kept telling me they don't really know why this happens and so that's the hard part to comprehend is because I just didn't know why, and it didn't change my outlook. I still tried to have the most positive attitude each and every day. I woke up trying to conquer the day but at the end of the day, I still ask myself, well, what did I do to cause this? Did I do anything? Is it what I'm eating or drinking? I don't know. That was the hard part is not knowing why it was you, but then I realized afterwards, there's a reason that I had testicular cancer and it's to share my story with others and hopefully save some other people from what I went through.
JOYCE: I have to agree with you on the why question, and I think too, as a journalist, investigating things or asking questions, it's just part of your soul, what you do with your job and your career. And it's, I think, at least for me, it's always kind of lapsed over into healthcare and, you know, why, what did I do, or how can I prevent this again? Or sometimes there are no answers, but I think those are legitimate questions that everybody would have.
BRETT: Yeah, it's one of those things where what I've realized is cancer can come at any time, at any moment, and it doesn't mean you're bad, you've been living a bad lifestyle. I mean, you could get it for no reason at all, and there's no point in [that], because if you dwell on it and wonder why too much, that's only gonna bring you down. And so, we changed, we had a couple days where we were just so down and out about it right when we were diagnosed. But then we turned the switch and we said, let's be a positive light and try and say that, you know, it's okay. Like, I know I was the one that was picked for this, but we're going to take it down. And I just tried to be a positive influence for other cancer patients as well.
JOYCE: I think that's the way to be. I remember some of those feelings too. And you have to just get up and go for it. And it's hard to do sometimes, but it really does make a difference, I think, if you have that positive attitude. Another one of your interviews that I watched, it might have been the same one with you and your wife, but what we just talked about is a good segue to this topic of why men delay going to a doctor with a symptom such as a lump anywhere, but for this, a lump on your testicle, why do you think you went? You didn't delay, but do you have any thoughts on why you think men don't go and have things checked out?
BRETT: I did read the Lance Armstrong book, as I mentioned his story, and he's one of those examples of someone who kind of ignored it. He didn't think it was anything. He kind of thought it was his bike causing the issue. And sure enough, delaying the problem, it forced the cancer to spread to a point where it was very, very serious through his treatment, if you're familiar with his story. But the reason why I went, I didn't want to take any chance. I mean, if anyone saw this testicle, they would have gone to the doctor too. But my question is, if my dog didn't jump on me that day and cause something to happen, because this was literally overnight that my testicle grew, three to four times. If that didn't happen, I think about it all the time. Well, what if we're here in June of the next year? And would it have still been spreading? Would I have had symptoms? Those are all questions that I ask. And there's a reason my dog jumped on me that day.
So, it was no question for me to go to the doctor. But I don't know if I would have gone to the doctor if it wasn't for that signal, that symptom that could not be ignored. Because there are cases where it isn't that I don't know, maybe it's a little lump, but maybe it's not. Maybe you guys just feel like, oh, I'll be fine. I don't need to go to the doctor. Maybe that's the mindset that some guys have. I think that mine was too much of a signal that I had to address it and had to address it immediately. For men who have any sort of questions, I think you're better off spending an hour out of a day to just get a checkup rather than go through three months of treatment and a life-changing diagnosis. Not to say that one might not happen because of the other. It's just always go on the side of caution, because your health is all you have. And I just think it's so important to seek treatment and seek advice from the professionals.
JOYCE: I agree 100%. And I think I wonder if age matters because I know some of the younger men I've talked to who actually found they had testicular cancer in high school.
BRETT: Oh, wow.
JOYCE: They waited because they were either embarrassed or they didn't want to tell their mom or their dad, mostly their mom, and they just didn't do anything. And as you just described, they waited too long. But I think that's what I hope. And what I know you've been doing too is just to raise awareness, so people are more comfortable in talking about it and doing something, you know. I just hope that we can help with that because I think it's so important.
BRETT: Yeah. And when you say the age part, yeah, high school and twenties, those ages, we're not supposed to be sick when we're in our teens and when in our twenties, that's just not, everyone thinks of you get cancer when you're older. And so maybe that's part of it is that young men don't think they'll get sick with cancer at that early age. And I know I never thought I would be sick with cancer in my teens or twenties or thirties, it does happen. And it's something that I had no idea that testicular cancer was a cancer that was common in young men. And that's a conversation that I think every young man in high school even needs to know about.
JOYCE: Right. I agree. I agree. So, Another question that I would like your opinion on, but really to share your experiences on banking sperm. Because I think that's something that, again, with this cancer, men and their wives or partners need to know about in terms of chemo and fertility. So, do you mind just sharing some of your thoughts on that and experiences?
BRETT: Of course. So, when we learned I had testicular cancer, we immediately had to get the testicle removed, and we did so. And then it kind of, we had a little bit of downtime where it was like, okay, what's the plan? And one of those plans was, well, are you planning on having kids? We got married less than a year after I was diagnosed with cancer. a year before. So, we got married in May of 2019 and I was diagnosed in April of 2020. And so sure, we want to start a family and have multiple kids. But that, when I got that diagnosis, I had no idea if I'd be able to have kids. I didn't know if it was going to be possible at all. But something that I learned quickly is that one testicle can produce as much as two. Maybe it's, they basically told me, one testicle is sufficient in producing enough sperm to have children. And so, I said, great, okay, well, I have one healthy one. And they said, if you're thinking about having kids at all, with chemo, because chemo, some of those treatments can affect fertility. And so, once I learned that I was going to have chemo, I immediately decided to go down to Mayo Clinic and bank some sperm just in case I got back from the chemo and they said your levels are really low and your chances of having kids aren't great.
So that was just like a backup plan, and it gave us so much reassurance to know that if we want to have children down the line, we still can, and it's not a big deal. We did that, and it's still sitting there in Mayo Clinic. One positive piece of news that we just received, my wife and I are getting to the point where we're talking about those next steps with kids. We got a sperm test just to see the level of what did the chemo do to my body, and it came back and my levels are essentially normal. And so that was unbelievable news to know that--we're still gonna keep the sperm bank there just as a backup--but it's reassuring to know that I guess the chemo did not completely ruin my fertility chances. Naturally, that's the key word there, but it is very important just to know that there are options out there for young men who get this news at a young age and they're like, well, I want to have kids and maybe they don't even have a partner or a spouse yet. I mean, that's still a very important thing to do. Just because you don't have a spouse doesn't mean you can't bank sperm and have that as a backup plan down the line.
JOYCE: You're right. I think that's great advice. Also, I think it's interesting what you just said about your report on your sperm count or however they measure that. It's normal. I think that's important for listeners to hear too.
BRETT: Yeah it was a surprise to us. We went into that thinking it was gonna be, and I don't have the metrics or know exactly the terminology here, but say a ten out of ten is great news. We were expecting something right in the middle, four out of five or four out of ten, just something like that where it's like not great not good or not horrible, but it came back and it was a positive report. And the doctor who called us said, yeah, that looks really good. So, it was a little bright light for us that we so desperately needed.
JOYCE: You've touched on this, but I just wondered before I go on to my very last question, you know, we talked about going to see a doctor if you suspect anything's wrong. Do you have any other advice for any man that might think he has testicular cancer or anyone undergoing treatment, again, based on your own experiences?
BRETT: Yeah. So, I check my only remaining testicle, um, probably more than I should, but I think doctors recommend it monthly, you know, in the shower, and there's really good tutorials online where you just check. Check your testicle, and it's typically in a warm shower. And that's the best advice, is just get familiar with what your testicle feels like. And if anything feels different in two months, three months, whatever that may be, just get familiar with what it's supposed to feel like.
I can honestly say I did not check my testicles growing up, and so I assumed I knew what they felt like normally, but I'll be honest, I didn't. So just doing the proper tests yourself, just to know, make you the expert of knowing what your body feels like and where there's irregularities, I think that's so important. And then if you have any questions, there's no harm in going to the doctor because testicular cancer is a very fast-moving cancer. And if you don't get it taken care of, it could go from your testicles, like I said, to your brain. And, I don't know the timeline of how long that typically takes, but doctors told me that we needed to get this testicle out immediately because there's little things that could be spreading throughout your body. And so, I think time is so important in this whole thing. And there's just, if you really have questions, go see a urologist and, they’ll help you, give you the peace of mind that you deserve.
JOYCE: That's outstanding advice and very true. It is a very fast-growing cancer and yeah, check yourself. I think as women, it's the same with checking your breasts for lumps. It's just something that should be part of your routine.
BRETT: Absolutely.
JOYCE: So, my last question is, just like, what's ahead for you and for Mary in your careers, your life, anything you want to share with us?
BRETT: Yeah, so we are in a suburb of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and we've lived here for about seven years. As I referred to earlier, children are in the plan at some point, and that's part of the process of coming out of testicular cancer is figuring out when we want to start a family. And so that is certainly in our plans. But I will continue my career at my TV station, Channel 5, and working predominantly on the weekends and later in the week reporting. And Mary also is in the business. She's a reporter as well in the market. So, it's fun to have our careers intertwine a little bit. But it truly is a blessing to be able to share our story with others. I am going, we're not out of the woods technically yet, I go back to Mayo Clinic every three months for checkups because testicular cancer has the highest rate of reoccurrence in the first two years. So, every three months I do return for my CT scans and my blood work, and meeting with my doctor, and I do that every three months and then it'll, the timing will move to like every six months after two years.
So it's just reassuring to know that sure I'm healthy now, I feel great, but I am going back every three months just to make sure that everything is okay because what 2020 taught us is that life is precious, and just because you feel healthy one day doesn't mean you're going to be healthy your entire life. You have to take your health seriously. I'm blessed to be around such great people in my life who've given me the inspiration to be so positive and I didn't have time to be negative. So, for anyone who is going through testicular cancer, I want to be a resource. I want to be helping, you know, helpful to you. And, it's just positivity can beat anything. And this is a cancer that can be beat. It's extremely treatable, but it's important to catch it. Absolutely. Absolutely catch it early.
JOYCE: Well, I like that way to end. I think you're absolutely right. As I've said during our discussion here, Brett, and just thank you so for being so open and honest about what you went through and what others can do as well as they go through this journey. So I will close out here. And as things happen down the road, I know you're working on raising awareness. Maybe we could talk again just to see what's happening. Absolutely. Raise awareness campaign for testicular cancer.
BRETT: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
JOYCE: Okay. Thank you for joining me today on Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer from the Max Mallory Foundation. Go to MaxMalloryFoundation.com to learn more about testicular cancer, to donate and send your suggestions for guests on the podcast. And join me next time for Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer.
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