A Poem and Facts About Testicular Cancer - Episode #9

Host Joyce Lofstrom shares recent facts about testicular cancer and a poem Orchids written by her son Max Mallory during his treatment.

Transcript

A Poem and Facts About Testicular Cancer

7:07

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

testicular cancer, cancer, podcast, orchids, survivor, NIH, National Institutes of the Health, Joyce Lofstrom, Max Mallory Foundation, caregivers, young adults with cancer

00:12 Joyce Lofstrom

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 in 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. 

Hi, this is Joyce, and I am recording this podcast the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, which is a holiday where we typically gather together to enjoy great food and to say thanks for everything that we have in our lives. 

This year, based on guidelines around COVID-19, everyone is encouraged to stay home and not travel, which our family will be doing We will be here and just enjoying our time together with our three dogs. 

So, I wanted to just do a brief podcast this week and share two different things. 

One, I have some facts that I came across that are from the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, government groups in the United States.

And the second thing I want to share is a poem written by my son Max Mallory, who died from testicular cancer in 2016. 

They are perhaps somewhat opposite in information, or I'll say format, but anyway, I thought this would just be maybe of interest. 

Let's look at the facts on testicular cancer. And I just was interested in the statistics. So, there are four I will share, actually five. 

·      9,610 new cancer cases.

·      0.5% of all new cancer cases in 2020. 

·      440 estimated deaths.

·      0.1% of all cancer deaths. 

And the final statistic is the five-year relative survival rate, which is 95%. That statistic comes from the years 2010 to 2016.

So, what does all this mean? 

As we've talked about, on other shows, you can see that 0.5% of all new cancer cases, and the percent of all cancer deaths, which is 0.1%, is quite low, when compared to other cancers that we all know about and talk about. 

And I guess what I want to just say on this is, even though it's that low when you compare it to other types of cancer, it's still a very real number...because all of us listening to this have someone affected by testicular cancer, someone going through treatment, someone who died. 

03:24

And I think it’s important to think about that because I don't think the lower incidence rate diminishes in any way what we have to do to stop this cancer, to educate people about it, and to make sure that it goes even lower at some point. 

I say this based on, of course, my own experience, but with the young men and women I have talked to on this podcast, who have all experienced it; all had cancer. They've also survived, but they also went through quite a bit to get to that stage of survival. 

So, the good statistic is that there is a 95% survival rate, which some of our guests have talked about, as well. I think it is just interesting to know about.

If you want to find any of these statistics, the website is seer.cancer.gov. or s-e-e-r. then, cancer.gov. And that's the source of these numbers. Again, it's from the NIH, National Institutes of Health. Lots of numbers, but interesting to look at if that's of interest. 

Then my second and final entry into this podcast is this poem by Max. He wrote it at some point during his seven-month journey in navigating testicular cancer. 

So, I'm just going to read it.  And, you know, I know many of you have written different things during your treatment or your caregivers have written. This is called

Orchids by Max Mallory

Fossilized in frozen 

Preserves for pollination 

Orchids in labs waiting 

to bloom 

millions of years after their sprout. 

Seeds waiting for fertile ground 

in unimagined places 

Just add nutrients to see growth 

in two to four weeks (depending on the type) 

then wait

for it to burst inside

becoming something entirely different 

and unexpected 

until it dies

alone and empty 

failing the mission of pollination 

being succeeded by what we determine

is a more important version of life!!

If you are in the US, have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and if you're listening from another location, have a wonderful week or weekend. 

We'll be back next week, early December, with another guest to talk about his journey with testicular cancer.  Thank you.

Thanks so much for joining me today on Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer from the Max Mallory Foundation. We have a website, and it's at maxmalloryfoundation.com, where you can learn more about testicular

cancer, donate, and also send your ideas for guests on the podcast. And for spelling, Mallory is m-a-l-l-o-r-y.

Please join me next time for Don't Give Up on Testicular Cancer.

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