what happens if not detected early

Iam a 20 year old male,i did all the things any other 18-22 year old did,went out the weekends,hell,while i was at college i was even going out weeknights,life was great,living it to the full,however one day it was to change completely.

One day while i was in the city with my mates they noticed i was acting quite weird,saying the same thing several imes,forgetting where we were going,talking absolute rubbish in general. Anyway,because my mates noticed this they got quite worried so my best mate tony decided to have a word with my mther as he had his suspicions that i might have taken some sort of drug or something, my mother knew me too well, she knew i would never try drugs but she agreed with tony,i was acting strange. The next day my mother took me to the hospital, the doctors were puzzled, they did a number of tests but couldnt find anything wrong, they decided it was best keep me in just so they could monitor me, i was in for four days before being let out, however my problem wasn't solved at all, my mum and my brothers and sisters became more and more worried,they were annoying my gp everyday to do something.

one day out of the blue i got a phone call and i was told i had to go immediately to hospital, i saw a specialist there,he examined me and immediately he recognised a swelling on my testicle,i had never noticed myself as i was too young and naive to check,i was diagnosed with testicular cancer and had to have my testicle removed immediately, the problem was that because i hadn't noticed it earlier it had lead to swelling on my brain as a side effect, this caused severe damage to my memory,which may or may not ever repair,i was been treated for this swelling,when they finally got that under control my chemo started.

during the first round of chemo i was kept in the hospital,the chemo knocked me for six, my appetite went, i had little or no energy, a crazy sleep pattern and i was never in the mood to talk to people which is highly unlike me. the first round of chemo lasted 3 weeks, before the chemo i had a big head of hair however i knew it was going to fall out so i eventuallly plucked up the courage and let my brother shave it off,to avoid clumps of hair on my pillow every mornin or hair in my food etc. for the next 3 rounds of chemo i was allowed to stay at home and just travel up and down to the hospital daily,this was absolutely exhausting, the four rounds of chemo spanned over about 3-4 months.

when the chemo was finished i was relieved and thought i could try and get back to normal,get my energy levels back up,get my appetite back and try and regain some of the 2 stone i had lost and try and get back to my old self,however i was in for a shock,a few weeks later i was in for a scan,when the results came back i had to see a specialist,the news i was told was quite a bombshell,because i had not detected the cancer early it had spread,it was entwined in my stomach and the only way to remove it was a big operation,11-12 hours long to be precise. It was an amazing bombshell that was dropped on me,but i just had to grin and bear it,my family and friends were an amazing help and my amazing girlfriend who stood by me through it all also helped me come to terms with it,anyway the operation went ahead and i am still alive to tell the tale today,luckily all the cnacer in my stomach was removed and i am now fit and well.

If even one person reading this gets offline and does a check on their privates and notices something abnormal,EVEN ONE, then i will feel a whole lot better about myself, here is the proof folks,early detection is absolutely vital, the longer it goes un-noticed the more chance there is it will spread and make matters worse,so spread the words,check your private bits regularly,i don't care how silly it sounds,it could be life-saving!!!