Targeted Cancer Therapy
'At 38, I Thought I Was Invincible. Then I Found A Lump In My Testicle'
From the outside, Angelo Vallillo's transformation from party boy to health nut might look like a Damascene conversion. At 38, Vallillo was tour managing a DJ, travelling the world, out partying at all hours, never stopping, never slowing down. Just four years later, he's a clean-eating yogi, with a focus on gratitude and fitness.
"I thought I was invincible, I was a bit of a lad, not really paying attention to how I was living my life in terms of health, and then I found a lump," says Vallilo, now 42.
Vallillo remembers being instructed to 'check your balls' when he was in school and the message stuck. "I used to check my testicles every time I showered. When I was 38, I found this small, hard pea-sized lump," he recalls. "I squeezed it and there was this shooting pain which went right into my abdomen, lingering for about 10 seconds.
"As a guy, you come up with excuses, you just think 'well, I must have knocked them or something', but it had raised an alarm for me," Vallillo says.
It was his then-girlfriend who kept Vallillo from burying his head in the sand, forcing him to visit a doctor the very next day. "I'll never forget it. The doctor spent a long time checking out my testicles, a lot longer than I expected, so already the alarm bells were ringing. The next day I went to work and when I looked at my phone I had nine missed calls from the doctor. That's when I thought 'oh no, this isn't good'."
The cancer that affects mostly young menTesticular cancer affects as many as 2,400 men in the UK every year and there are around 65 deaths from it every year. It's important to catch it while it's contained within the testes, as once it spreads it can no longer be cured. What makes it somewhat unique in contrast to other cancers, is that it tends to affect men younger. "Most testicular cancers occur between the ages of 20-40," explains Hosam Serag, a consultant urological surgeon at The Harborne Hospital (HCA Healthcare UK). "There's not a specific scientific reason why it would happen in a younger population compared to other cancers, yet it does.
"It always starts with a lump in the testicle, the other signs are more things we would see in late disease – weight loss, feeling unwell, vomiting, feeling a lump in your tummy, stuff like that," adds Serag. "Those are signs of a really advanced disease that has been missed. But there is always a lump in the testicle to start with at first. The lump is usually painless. Having pain in the testicle is a very common symptom for men but not all of those men who experience that have testicle cancer. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to months to form, but it can double in size on a weekly basis."
After being referred to a specialist and getting a scan, Vallillo's diagnosis was confirmed. "I was there for about 40 minutes, they did scans of my stomach, and then they told me: cancer."
"We normally send patients for a CT scan to make sure it has not spread through the lymph nodes into the abdomen," explains Serag. "If it has, then that usually means the cancer has metastasised [changed and gained the ability to form new tumours elsewhere in the body.] Either way, the patient then usually goes through surgery to remove the affected testicle. If the cancer has metastasised then those guys will go on to receive chemotherapy."
The surgery to remove a testicle is called an orchidectomy and although most men are understandably squeamish about the prospect, it isn't life-limiting.
"It's lucky that we have two testicles because it essentially means you've got a spare if one has to be removed," says Serag. "Provided the other one is healthy, it's adequate to produce enough hormones like testosterone, and sperm, so fertility isn't impacted."
Testicular cancer also tends not to spread to the other testicle. The chances of it doing so are roughly 5 per cent.
"My first question was 'am I going to die?' I didn't want to tell anyone, I didn't want to tell my mum, I was terrified," explains Vallillo. "The doctor reassured me immediately. She said 'no, not at all, this is very common and you caught it so early', it was ridiculous how early I got it. It was a straightforward procedure."
Caught early, testicular cancer can be curedIn fact, Vallillo had caught his cancer so early that he didn't need chemotherapy or an orchidectomy. Doctors cut into his groin and then cut the tumour out directly. "It was probably about six weeks between my initial doctor's visit and my surgery," he remembers. "The NHS was so quick. It was such an incredible thing, as soon as the diagnosis came everyone sprang into action. It was getting my sperm sample taken, getting me booked in, keeping an eye on it, prepping me for surgery."
Vallillo has now adopted a healthy lifestyle following his cancer treatment - Christopher Pledger for The Telegraph
"If testicular cancer is picked up reasonably early, it is curable and the treatment can be very quick," says Serag. "With most cancers in that area, if it spreads outside the primary organ, it becomes untreatable – you can manage it with chemotherapy, but you can't cure it. The cure rate and survival rates for testicular cancer is very good. It's well in the 90 per cent range, which is not something we can say about cancer in general."
Testicular cancer is also rare in that it is not generally hereditary. If another member of your family has it, or another type of cancer, that doesn't generally increase a patient's risk factor.
'I almost felt ashamed'Even so, the mental burden of his diagnosis was difficult for Vallillo to come to terms with. "It's a horrendous thing to have hanging over you; you feel weak, you feel like you're going to give it to someone, even though you know that's impossible. Obviously anyone can get cancer, but it just felt like it couldn't happen to me.
"I don't know why but I almost felt ashamed," Vallilo says. "I was embarrassed. I was asking myself why I had this. I felt like something was wrong with me. I didn't want to tell anyone, I wanted to do it all on my own. The doctor was adamant I went to tell my mum, so I went to her but I was thinking 'god, I know what she's going to be like!'"
Freezing his sperm was particularly difficult, as there could be complications. "You're on your own with a nurse who doesn't know what kind of cancer you have, and you're asked a load of deep questions: did I want kids? If I died, would there be anyone who'd want to have my children?" says Vallillo. "That's a big thing to answer when you've been told you have cancer. Then you're told to go and masturbate into a cup in the next room. It's horrendously awkward."
Awkwardness aside, the surgery was a success and Vallillo is now living cancer-free, but his brush with testicular cancer has changed his approach to life.
'I stopped partying so hard and looked at my diet'"I think there's always a positive after a negative and I'm grateful it happened because I changed a lot of the things I was doing," says Vallillo. "I stopped partying so hard, I looked at my diet, I thought about what chemicals I was consuming. One of the big things is that I was living with a lot of stress at the time. I was running a busy hair salon and if I think back to my life, I was probably the most unhappy I could be when I first got diagnosed."
After his cancer scare, Vallillo's friend introduced him to Ayurveda, a traditional medicine system from India which takes in aspects of yoga, meditation, and herbal medicine, which helped bring structure to his life.
"I was cutting [artificial] chemicals out of my life and that's what led me to found Shanti, my hair-care range which is entirely [natural]. My friend told me about people in India who swear by these ingredients, but he also introduced me to this lifestyle," says Vallillo.
Beyond that, Vallilo has cut ultra-processed foods out of his diet, and drinks a fresh celery juice every morning. "I'll have the occasional glass of champagne, but I'm not a heavy drinker anymore," he adds. "You have to rebuild yourself after cancer. It takes time and that's not going to happen overnight. I go to the gym every morning. I set myself a challenge every morning. My routine is to get up, I'll have a juice, I have a coffee, I do my gratitude work, then I go to the gym, that's what I do regardless. That builds my confidence back up."
Ultimately, Vallillo is aware that his cancer experience was broadly the best it could have been, and that all comes down to his having caught it early. "Mine isn't a horror story and that's because I got into the habit of checking my balls every time I got in the shower. Do it every time. Just do it."
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What's it like to return to work after you have recovered from cancer?
One person who has recently experienced just that is Newstalk's political correspondent Seán Defoe.
Every year, 170 men in Ireland are diagnosed with with testicular cancer and last year, Seán was one of them.
After months of treatment, he returned to work for the local and European elections in June.
On Lunchtime Live, Seán said the past year had not been his "favourite 12 months".
"It's been weird for the last few weeks because, obviously, with election campaigning, it has been flat to the mat," he said.
"I love elections, I thrive off elections but I've had all of the anniversaries fall during the election.
"Last week, when we were doing the live shows with you, it was a year on since I had started chemo."
According to Cancer Research UK, 36% of all cancer patients were over 75.
Despite this, since the 1990s, cancer rates have increased significantly among those aged 24 and under.
"Unfortunately, there are so many more people getting cancer young now," Seán said.
"Particularly, bowel cancer, for example, we're seeing rising rates among young people.
"The knock on effect is that, yes, thankfully, so many more people are returning to work healthy and getting over it.
"But getting a life changing diagnosis like that is not exactly the easiest thing, so I want to start a bit of a conversation."
Seán said he decided to throw himself in at the "deep end" when he returned to work but worried he might succumb to brain fog - one of the many side effects of chemotherapy.
"When you're coming up to something like an election, you're trying to remember hundreds of candidates across the country, who they stand for and where they're running," he said.
"I was just really worried I was going to blank on air and it has happened to me a couple of times on air.
"I was covering The Anton Savage Show one day and I turned around and said, 'So, Paul, what do you think?'
"He turns around and says, 'Well, I'm John.'"
Susanne Dowd of the Irish Cancer Society told Seán that performance anxiety is common among cancer patients returning to the workforce.
"A lot of people report issues about their confidence in returning, their sense of self was shaken up by their cancer diagnosis and by going through treatment," she said.
"Some of the other challenges that were flagged were a reduction in income - salary or bonus.
"Also, there were cases when people reported an unsupportive manager or colleagues which didn't help their return either."
For those who are able, the Irish Cancer Society recommends returning to work on a part-time basis to begin with.
You can listen back here:
Main image shows Sean Defoe in studio. Image: Newstalk
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