Jonathon Papadopoulo was only in his twenties when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
He and his husband were getting ready to celebrate New Year’s Eve in 2020, when they realised that things didn’t look right for him down there.
To be on the safe side, Jonathon booked an appointment with his GP who sent him off for an ultrasound. The doctor told Jonathon not to expect to hear anything back.
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Except, Jonathon did hear back and was sent to a urologist which eventually led to his cancer diagnoses.
“I went and saw the urologists [and] I found out that while there’s only about 1,000 cases of testicular cancer diagnosed every year in Australia, it’s probably the most common cancer for men aged 18 to 40 outside of skin cancer,” Jonathon said.
For Jonathon, being proactive about the signs and seeing a GP was crucial to his diagnoses and health long term, but for many men, they often push their health aside.
“It’s really important to be familiar with what your body looks like,” he said.
“If you start to notice pain, if you start to notice the change in the size, the change in the texture, a change in the feeling.
“There’s nothing wrong with going to see the doctor and getting it looked at.”
Just last week, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles would have a procedure on his prostate.
The news prompted an 11-fold increase in internet searches for ‘enlarged prostate’.
So why did it take the King Charles’ news for men to take notice in their health and why are they in general, so reluctant to be tested for critical health diagnoses.
In this episode of The Briefing, Jonathon talks about his diagnoses, what prompted him to get checked, and what an early diagnosis meant for his chances of surviving.