Get Comfortable with Uncomfortable: Surviving Testicular Cancer at 43 with Resilience and Martial Arts

Podcast Show Notes

Get Comfortable with the Uncomfortable: Surviving Testicular Cancer at 43 with Resilience and Martial Arts 

We often hear that testicular cancer is a "young man's disease," but cancer doesn't always play by the rules. In this episode, we welcome Mark Vidic, a 43-year-old martial arts instructor from Toronto, who shares his powerful story of diagnosis, treatment, and an incredible life after cancer. 

Mark takes us through the early signs of unusual back and shoulder pain, plus the challenges of getting a proper diagnosis when multiple doctors thought he was too old for the disease. He discusses how his 30+ years of studying Combat Ju-Jitsu prepared him mentally and physically to face 90 days of intense chemotherapy, and how he turned his time in the hospital waiting rooms into a mission to encourage and uplift younger patients. 

Tune in to hear Mark's story of family support, a surprise natural pregnancy after fertility struggles, and his upcoming mission to give back to the hospital that saved his life. 

Key Takeaways from This Episode:

• Listen to Your Body: Mark's earliest symptoms showed up as persistent lower back and shoulder pain before he ever felt a lump. If something feels off, don't wait—skip "Dr. Google" and seek professional medical advice immediately. 
• Build Your Resilience: Embracing physical and mental challenges before a crisis hits builds the "inner iron" needed to face difficulties like chemotherapy. 
• The Power of a Support System: From a partner who pushes you to keep moving to a community of fellow patients, nobody has to navigate a cancer diagnosis alone. 
• Beating the Odds: Despite fertility readings pointing to "subfertile" results post-chemo, Mark and his wife Christine are joyfully expecting a baby boy this September. 

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Learn more about the Foundation: The Max Mallory Foundation
• Mark's Favorite Song: "You Get What You Give" by The New Radicals 

Connect With Us:

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast directory. To listen to past episodes or learn how you can support our mission, visit us at www.maxmalloryfoundation.com/podcast

Transcript

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Get Comfortable with the Uncomfortable: Surviving Testicular Cancer at 43 with Resilience and Martial Arts

Intro: Welcome to Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer, a podcast where testicular cancer survivors, caregivers, and others who have navigated the cancer journey share their stories. The podcast comes to you from the Max Mallory Foundation, a non-profit family foundation focused on educating about testicular cancer in honor and in memory of Max Mallory, who died in 2016 at the young age of 22 from testicular cancer. 

Had he survived, Max wanted to help young adults with cancer. This podcast helps meet that goal. Here now is your host, Joyce Lofstrom, Max's mom and a young adult cancer survivor. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Mark Vidic learned he had testicular cancer at age 43. Several doctors told him he was too old for this cancer.

Joyce Lofstrom: However, as we all know, cancer doesn't pay much attention to age. Mark will share more about his diagnosis and treatment at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada. To keep going, he relied on his resilience and discipline as a martial arts instructor. His positive attitude worked. Mark and his wife, Christine, are expecting another child, conceived a little over a year after Mark completed his chemotherapy.

He joins us today to share his story of testicular cancer and why men need to pay attention to their bodies. So Mark, thanks so much for being here with me.

Mark Vidic: Thank you so much, Joyce. I'm very, very grateful that you asked me to be part of the podcast. And I'm absolutely honored to continue sharing my story and to continue your son's legacy.

Mark Vidic: Thank you very much.

Joyce Lofstrom: Thank you. So I really want to start with your work as a martial arts instructor. Before we get into your testicular cancer story, just tell us a little bit about this expertise and what you do.

Mark Vidic: Yeah, I do have a day job, and that's not what we're going to  talk about, but there's a term in Japanese called ikigai, and the literal translation is: “your reason for being." And there's no rule around how many you can have. You can have several, and it's so relevant to our conversation. It's my martial art, and it's my family. Specifically, the martial art I practice is called Combat Ju-Jitsu.

Mark Vidic: It originated about a thousand years ago in Japan among the Samurai. And then, it was brought into Great Britain by a traveling teacher. And then it became British Jiu-Jitsu. It was taught to my instructor, who was actually a US Army Ranger and served two tours in Vietnam, and then joined the Toronto police SWAT team. 

Mark Vidic: So over the years, it became, call it, adapted for military and law enforcement use. But I've been studying it since I was 13 years of age. And really, you couldn't have put it better. It taught me resilience in the face of pressure. It's taught me discipline. It's really taught me, to a certain degree, about spirituality, listening to my body, and understanding when things don't seem right. And really to be mindful around things like that. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That sounds wonderful. I'm just starting to learn more about mindfulness. I think that's great. So let's switch over to testicular cancer and tell us your story. I know it took a while to get your diagnosis since several doctors said you were too old. What happened? 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, actually, it didn't. It was just funny, the premise of how it all came about. So, we'll go back to, actually, this time two years ago, and even six months before that. I've always been pretty good at seeing my GP for annual or biannual checkups. And the last one was in November 2023. Nothing was found at that time, and that did include a testicular exam. 

Anyway, fast-forward six months to spring, and I decided I wanted to take up running. And again, it's one of those things, putting myself into an area of discomfort and then finding comfort in it by challenging myself through something physical. Anyway, I started running quite a lot from April onwards, through spring into summer. And it was probably within a couple of months that I started to develop lower back pain. 

I started seeing a chiropractor, and it provided relief, albeit temporary. Over the course of seeing the chiropractor, I felt pain in my lower back on my left side and even in the tight muscles in my shoulders. And we started talking about something called thoracic outlet syndrome, which is kind of like, almost like whiplash, to describe it in simple terms. And over the course of my martial arts career, I've been thrown probably 40,000 times. You kind of giggle about it, and I'm like, "Okay, I guess it's caught up with me, right?" 

But, going through summer with this treatment, towards the end of summer, it was mid-August, when, in a self-exam in the shower, I actually felt a lump. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Mm. 

Mark Vidic: And I think it was probably on a Friday. And immediately, I spoke to my wife and said, "What? I'm going to give it a couple of days and go through the weekend." And I'm sure you've heard this a million times before: "I'm going to hope it goes away." You hit Dr. Google and start reading about all the things it can't be, and you find some reassurance in that. 

Then the next week rolled around, and the lump still hadn't gone away. It was probably about the size of a pea. I went to a walk-in clinic, where the doctor confirmed, "Yeah, it's definitely a lump," had me do a urine analysis, and gave me a requisition for an ultrasound. Later that same week, I saw my GP, who also said, "Yeah, this is a lump." And that's when the term was used: "You're 43. You're too old for this. No, it shouldn't be testicular cancer. That's a young man's disease." Those were actually the words she used. She even asked, "Have you been exposed to radiation or anything like that?" And that certainly wasn't the case. 

Anyway, the ultrasound was done, and I had some blood work, which notably showed no abnormal hormone levels in the week that followed. So, from about August 23 to September 6, you might hear stories about how quickly the medical system moves in Canada, but I consider that quite quick. I was in touch with a urologist. I sat in his office, and he said the same thing to me: "You're a little bit old for this, and we don't know what it is yet. We're not sure if it's cancer." And I'm like, "Great. So, what do we do next?" And he's like, "Well, we still need to perform an orchiectomy." 

Mark Vidic: At which time I said, "Great; get rid of it. Give me a stick to bite down on and let's do it right now." And we kind of laughed about it, and he said, "Well, I wish everyone kind of came at this with the same outlook that you have, but we'll certainly get it done quickly." And a week later, it was Friday, the 13th of September, I underwent a left orchiectomy. And I will say that thoracic outlet pain and lower back pain stopped immediately following that surgery. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay. 

Mark Vidic: Which is wild. Yeah, I find that absolutely wild. And I mention that only because I think that was my body kind of giving that first sign where something felt off, right? 

Mark Vidic: So, we performed some more scans, notably CT scans on October 3, and found some enlarged lymph nodes. And that's when I was referred to Princess Margaret, which is a premier cancer hospital in Toronto, probably even in Canada. I had a consult with them on the 11th of October. 

I met with a wonderful team, including a chemo oncologist and a surgeon as well—a doctor, I believe, named Robert Hamilton, who I think is quite well known in many testicular cancer circles and online. We sat down for a consultation, and it turned out that what I had was pure embryonal carcinoma, the same type of testicular cancer as Lance Armstrong. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay. 

Mark Vidic: Except I was 20 years older. And then, they basically said, "Your options are chemotherapy, and we'll start with that, or RPLND surgery." 

My mom actually passed away from a different kind of cancer in 2020, and I saw the effects of chemotherapy and the impact that it had on her. And I got into this, Joyce, frightened. Oh yeah, absolutely frightened of chemo. To the degree where I said, "No, I'm not doing chemo, we're doing surgery." 

And they said, "Well, we can do that. But your odds of getting everything via surgery and not needing chemo afterward are very slim. Whereas if we start with chemo, the odds of needing surgery afterward are quite slim as well. You're better off starting with the chemo." 

So I went home to mull it over. At the time, my wife and I weren't married, and we had a destination wedding booked a month later. And I sat down in front of her, and I said, "We're not canceling this wedding. We'll have to wait until afterward." 

And she said, "Mark, are you crazy? You call them back. That can wait." 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay. Yeah. That's huge. 

Mark Vidic: Yeah. October 11th was that consult. I think on the 18th, they rushed me in to do some sperm banking, and then chemo began on the 28th of October. 

Joyce Lofstrom: And so, how many rounds of chemo did you have? 

Mark Vidic: So that was one round, three cycles, about 90 days of chemo. I rang the bell on Christmas Eve 2024. I'm happy to say, yeah, that I'm NED (No Evidence of Disease). 

Joyce Lofstrom: So, if I can ask, what happened with the wedding? So, did you get to reschedule? I'm being nosy if you don't want to talk about it. 

Mark Vidic: Oh, no, I love talking about this stuff! We got married in November of this past year.. So we finally made it out to a destination wedding. We were surrounded by, I think, 35 of our closest family and friends in the sunny Caribbean. And we got there. And it meant the world to all of us. It really did. 

Joyce Lofstrom: You have a wonderful partner who kind of knew what you had to get done with the chemo and your health, so... 

Mark Vidic: I sure do. I surely do. 

Joyce Lofstrom: I know. That's great. So you got through the chemo, and that's just been what, a year ago? How long? That's not been long. 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, so that wrapped up in December of 2024. Two weeks later, I still had the shiny head, no facial hair, and all that, but I was back in the dojo practicing martial arts. In February, for men's health and specifically for men's mental health, I participated in a 2,000-pushup-for-the-month fundraiser, and then a Canadian Cancer Society run the month following. And I've just been kind of working on getting back to it since getting back into my fitness and into a really good, comfortable state. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That's great. I know I read an article, more than one, about you, and one of them includes a quote that actually came from the Cancer Center. It said, and I will quote here: "Your treatment became more about showing up for your family and helping others through theirs." So, elaborate on that. What does that mean, or how did that come to be for you? 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, in treatment, I remember being sat in the waiting room. Before you get assigned to your pod, you meet with the nurses; they take your weight and all that good stuff. And I'd see a couple of young men. They seemed to know one another well through treatment, and they'd chat and were friendly. I introduced myself and started talking to them about what they were there for, what I was there for, and really, we found that we had a commonality: testicular cancer. 

That was really what brought us together, and we got to know one another. What hits you is that you try to come into that day with the best attitude you can, but what really resonated with me about some of these young men was how frustrated they were. In some cases, they were there for their second or third cycle. In other cases, I was talking to these young men about the hardships, the toll this has taken on their personal relationships, and their frustration with their partners. They did not know whether they would be able to have kids, or even before that, they were thinking, "If I need RPLND surgery, there's a risk of nicking a nerve, and the impact that'll have on my fertility." There were so many things, and it just kind of slaps you in the face. 

Of course, these were topics that meant something to me as well. They were important to me, and they could impact me. But it really occurred to me that among my wife and my daughters, already having kids, I had a partner who drove me to every single chemo treatment and was there to kind of coach me through it and help me out. She's also a part-time yoga instructor. So getting home, when you want to crumple onto the couch absolutely exhausted, she'd say, "Hey, why don't you go for a walk, or get on the elliptical, or come and do some yoga, come and do some breathwork?" 

Just having that support system was so huge, and it hurt me to see when others didn't have that. So I would try to make fun of the things we would deal with on a daily basis. We'd get there for chemo, timed around the same days and the same times, and I'd see them down in the lobby. They'd hop into the elevator, and I'd say, "Guys, I'm going to  take the stairs up." It's four floors up, and I'd say, "I'll race ya, right?" So we'd have a laugh out of it, and I got them using the stairs as well. I got them trying to challenge themselves a little bit and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Right, right. 

Mark Vidic: I think that's really what I mean by turning up not just for yourself, but for those around you. In my case, certainly my spouse and my daughters, who were just wonderful in supporting me the way that they did through the whole thing, and then even the other young men in the program. It's really important to me that this story gets told, that everyone's story gets told, just so that anyone dealing with something like this and going through treatment knows that they really aren't alone. Right. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That's very important, and I like what you said: to make the uncomfortable comfortable. Right. 

Mark Vidic: You bet. Absolutely. 

Joyce Lofstrom: So I know you're expecting your fourth child in, what, September? Is that right? 

Mark Vidic: That's right. It's September the 19th. 

Joyce Lofstrom: And... 

Mark Vidic: A little boy. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay! After three girls, that's fun too, I think. But tell me, because a lot of men, as you mentioned, worry about their fertility. You banked sperm. Can you talk about what you did? Did you bank sperm? What did you do? 

Mark Vidic: We did. We did bank sperm, and we were in touch with the Sinai Fertility Clinic up here. Several months after completing chemo, we did want another child, and we started trying naturally, but unsuccessfully. Meeting and having consultations with the fertility clinic, they said this is absolutely normal; everyone's body is different, and everyone's ability to bounce back is different. 

Of course, in my head, at 44, turning 45, I've got age working against me at this stage, and I have one testicle. What is the likelihood of this happening? And they said, "Anything can happen. We don't know at this point. Everyone's different." 

Joyce Lofstrom: Yeah. 

Mark Vidic: So we went with it and kept trying. We submitted to several semen analyses just to figure out what was going on, and the results that came back every time were "subfertile, subfertile." And really, we got to the point in our discussion where they said, "If you don't want to wait any longer, we'll have to look at IVF or IUI," or other methods. We weren't opposed to that, and that's why we went through the sperm banking. 

But something just happened. So, we do have access to funding in Canada, including in Ontario, for a cycle of IVF. This was offered to us, and we were really at the end of the offer period, with the clinic looking for a yes or a no from us. Christine and I spoke, and I asked her, "Can we try just until summer? I don't know what it is. I would be more comfortable if we just tried a little bit." 

My biggest concern was the injections, the hormones, all the stuff that she would have to go through to get ready for this process. And I didn't want her to go through that, having just gone through all the chemo, the injections, and all that stuff. I know there's nothing pleasant about it. And she said, "What, let's wait until summer and let's see what happens." 

Around the same time, my father was in a nursing home. He had Parkinson's and was at the end of his life. He was transferred to the hospital in his last days. We sat with him at the beginning of January, and at that point, he was in a comatose state. I said to him, and I don't know who was on the other end, who he's going to see, if it's someone sitting on a cloud or whatever. I said, "Put in a good word. We want another child. Let's see where that goes." And actually, believe it or not, he squeezed my hand, and I got a little smile out of him. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Really? Oh, that's wonderful. 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, whether it was a coincidence or he heard and reacted, it was a beautiful thing. And I love that it's one of the last moments we shared. But it turns out that even during that discussion, Christine was already pregnant. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Oh, Okay. 

Mark Vidic: So, naturally. And yeah, she's progressing well. I think she's in week 20, and we're all really, really excited. The older sisters are all excited to have a little brother, and Mom and Dad couldn't be happier as well. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That's great. 

Mark Vidic: To anyone under the circumstances, anything is possible. I've said it several times in my life: tell me what I can't do so that I can show you that I can. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That's good. I like that too. Yeah, this rings true. Well, that's kind of a good segue into what's going on Father's Day on June 21st. You're part of this Cancer Center Journey. What is that? 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, Princess Margaret is the hospital where I was treated, and they host several walks each year. "Journey," I believe, is their new one, held on Father's Day. It's a fundraiser, really, to fund new and breakthrough treatments. It was my wife and my daughters who found it and presented it to me, saying, "Hey, how do you feel about spending Father's Day doing this?" 

My response back was, "I couldn't think of anything more wonderful or more important." I can't thank that hospital enough. 

This past Christmas, we went out as a family and brought treats and donuts to the nurses on all the pods. It's something I intend to do every year as long as I can. But to be able to help them out, to help people in need through this event or any other, is something I hold dear. So the girls suggested it, we have registered our team, and our team is named "It Takes Balls." Certainly, we hope to make an impact through fundraising and by being there for the event. 

Joyce Lofstrom: That's great. That's really nice that you have your family behind you and working with you, and going back to the nurses, I think that's great. So you've been very open about what happened to you with testicular cancer, and you want to talk about it. 

What would you tell men about taking responsibility for or paying attention to their own health? 

Mark Vidic: There are probably two things. First, listen to your body. And I know people are like, "Okay, well, what does that mean?" Yeah, it's a loaded statement. It is, and in my case, I run the parallel back to martial arts. You get to know what feels normal, what's within your ability, and what's not within your ability. 

In my case, it's quite funny. I used to joke with the nurses because I would sit down and they'd put the blood pressure cuff on me, and in the martial art that I do, as soon as you grab my arm, my fight-or-flight response kicks off. So putting the blood pressure cuff on me, my blood pressure starts to get elevated, and I joke with them, "This kind of gives me a bit of white-coat syndrome." I can actually feel my blood pressure when it goes up or when it's particularly low. 

But to go back to the original statement: listen to your body. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Yeah. 

Mark Vidic: If something doesn't feel right, if it starts with lower back pain, if it starts with even a shoulder pain that didn't exist before and you're not sure why, or anything for that matter, even if it's something obvious like a lump, speak to someone. Don't just look it up and hope that it goes away. 

I've listened to a few of your podcasts before, and when I sat down to speak, it really warmed my heart to hear that people took action quickly. I think that is absolutely key. Proof of that is that I had the physical with my doctor in November, and then, come spring,  a couple of months later, six months later, all of a sudden it went from no lump to a pea-sized lump, something quite large. This can move quickly. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Yeah. 

Mark Vidic: And that's scary. The second that something doesn't feel right, get medical help. 

And then the second piece of advice is: do hard things. Whether that's martial arts, running, or anything that takes you outside your comfort zone, doing tough things really builds resilience. I think, certainly in my journey through chemotherapy, it was that resilience that got me up at the end of the cycle. It got me home and onto the elliptical to really sweat and get the chemotherapy drugs moving through my system. 

With the walking, and forgive me for using the metric system,  I would try to walk even eight or nine kilometers a day through chemotherapy just to keep moving, to fight the fatigue. Do hard things. Whenever you can, build that strength, build that inner resilience. I love my Stoic quotes, and "Iron needs to be beaten and burned before it becomes a sword," right? So, that is really part of that journey. 

Joyce Lofstrom: If you can do that exercise, I think you're absolutely right because it helps your body heal, it helps you mentally, and yeah, I think that's very good advice. 

Mark Vidic: And I think in one of your recent podcasts, actually, there was a gentleman who was a physiotherapist who was speaking about that. Just now, they're speaking about the benefits of exercise during this kind of treatment and how it really acts as support both physically and mentally. 

Joyce Lofstrom: It does. So, what's next for you in life? I know the baby, probably, but anything you want to share about life, your job, giving back, your cancer journey? 

Mark Vidic: Yeah, I just want to make a difference. I'm just a guy with a story. But I try to participate in online men's groups on social media. If there's ever a young man who needs support, someone to drive him to chemotherapy if he doesn't have anyone, someone to cut his hair, frankly, if there's any discomfort or anxiety around that, or just someone to listen to him, I just want to help. And if I can make a difference in one person's life, I think I've done a decent job. I don't know exactly what that will look like, but I'm certainly open to it. My commitment to being involved will not waver in the long term. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Well, what you said about having support and talking, like what you did with the two young men who were having chemo when you were, I think that's really valuable and important. Because I know Max, I remember he was the youngest person in the hospital lobby. And a lot of his treatment was out of state, so he didn't have his friends around to come and visit. I mean, there are things like that you don't think about until you go through them. 

What you did with those two young men, I think, is outstanding. It gave them, like you said, something to aspire to, like running up the steps or having a laugh. It sounds minimal, but I don't think it is. I think it really makes a big difference in how you get through it.

Mark Vidic: Thank you. 

Mark Vidic: And I do think I made a bit of a difference in how their treatment journey went. We keep in touch on occasion now, but throughout, I live by Lake Ontario here, and we've got some beautiful views of the lake and beautiful sunsets. So I get out, I take a picture, and I send it to them: "What are you guys doing? Get out, move around a little bit." Little things like that are just to promote that activity and that challenge. 

Last I spoke to these two guys, and I think of them frequently, they were NED (no evidence of disease), and I hope that continues for all of us. 

Joyce Lofstrom: My last question is: what song, when you hear it, do you have to sing along? 

Mark Vidic: This one is my favorite. Going through the email and the questions, I had so many racing through my head, but there's an English band called The New Radicals. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay. 

Mark Vidic: And the song is You Get What You Give. I encourage anyone to look it up, hop on Spotify, and listen to the lyrics. But really, it talks about persevering when things seem tough around you; they'll get better. And certainly, you get out of things what you put into them. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Yeah, that feels like a great song. I will look it up because I don't know it. So, awesome. Thanks for your time and for telling us your story and what you're doing. I'm glad you are healthy, and you may have to come back in a few months to tell us about your new baby and what's going on. 

Mark Vidic: Joyce, I've got all the time in the world for you. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay! No, it'd be great. So thanks, and enjoy Father's Day. 

Mark Vidic: Thank you very much. 

Joyce Lofstrom: Okay, be well. Bye now. 

Mark Vidic: Bye. 

Closing: Thank you for watching this episode of Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe to our program on your favorite podcast directory. 

You can also visit the Max Mallory Foundation at www.maxmalloryfoundation.com/podcast to listen to previous podcast episodes or donate to the foundation. 

Join us again next time for another episode of Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer.