Leavine Family Racing (LFR), headquartered in Tyler, Texas, has an entry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing the No. 95 car with world-class driver, Scott Speed. On April 7^th at Martinsville Speedway, the first weekend of testicular cancer awareness month, LFR will begin to promote testicular cancer education and awareness. LFR will partner with Besties with Testies, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.

Besties with Testies, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, was founded with the mission to promote public interest and awareness of testicular cancer.  Besties with Testies has been active informing the public of the importance of self-examination and early detection. Providing tools and resources to educators, advocates, testicular cancer patients, and survivors, Besties with Testies has reached thousands of young men through our all-volunteer organization and nationally recognized website.

Testicular Cancer is most common in men ages 15 to 35 but can strike at any age. Testicular cancer is highly curable if detected early through self-examination. In the United States, one man dies from testicular cancer everyday.  To learn more about testicular cancer and how to perform a self-exam please visit our website, www.bestieswithtesties.org.

“This new partnership with LFR is a major breakthrough in our efforts to raise awareness through education of testicular cancer.  We are very grateful to LFR and this opportunity to deliver vital information on men’s’ health.” – Paul Cooke Jr, Co-Founder of Besties with Testies

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An event organizer who worked with the Cutthroats reached out to Besties with Testies to ask us to be a part of Men’s Health night.  We were honored to be invited to the event.  We are all about men’s’ health and love any opportunity we can get to share the information about testicular cancer.  We will take any chance we get to remind men that self-examinations are very important on a regular basis.

We set up our booth on the night of men’s health night and we passed out wristbands as well as educational brochures.  We talked to many young men and parents as well as older men as it is still a risk at any age. TC is most common in younger men, ages 15-35.  Everyone at the event loved our t-shirts and we sold a few at the event as well as directed others to our online shop.

Besties has always had a great support team.  We have friends that would help and offer to do anything to help us with the non-profit.  For this event, my sister-in-law came; Stephanie and she brought our niece Ellie who recently turned one. She kept us very entertained at the booth. Also as a volunteer, we brought our good friend Faye who has done a few events with Besties and knows all about our merchandise.  We appreciate all the support that all of you have given us.  We are excited for what’s to come.  Stay tuned

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American Cancer Society says that pregnancy tests can detect a hormone called Beta-HCG, which is exerted by some tumors of testicular cancer.  Beta- HCG is also found in the cells of a woman’s placenta during pregnancy.  Doctors say this will not always work of course, and only some men will have high enough HCG levels to make an at home pregnancy test turn up positive.

Along with testicular cancer there are some cancers that produce high levels of HCG that will show up on a pregnancy test.  Those include pancreas, lung, and stomach cancer.

Of course the first way to detect testicular cancer is by completing self-exams.  If a lump is found it is important to contact a doctor right away. It could save your life.

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We know that men who get testicular cancer today have a good chance of survival, however, getting treatment for the cancer can have an affect on fertility and sexual functions.  The author of the study, Victoria Cortessis, who is assistant professor of preventive medicine in Los Angeles, along with her colleagues interviewed 163 men diagnosed with testicular cancer.  They also took 292 healthy men of the same age, which showed the strong relationship with those who had smoked to those who were diagnosed with testicular cancer.  This study is one of three studies now that connects the use of marijuana to testicular cancer and no studies that contradict them. Along with studies that show men who smoke marijuana can have lower fertility and overall bad health.  For more information on this topic, click here to check out the article by Katie Moisse.

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There are a total of 20 rules. Kind of hard to remember them all but if you can work on them, the results are amazing and I can speak from experience.  Rule 1: Drink a large glass of water before every meal.  This rule is hardest for me in the morning but Harper says you won’t regret that large glass of water right when you wake up before breakfast. I make it a rule for myself now to finish my glass of water before I start eating and it helps me to be full a lot faster. Rule 2: Don’t drink your calories. It is hard enough to drink enough water throughout the day so why add more liquids that just fill your body with all the bad calories.  Rule 3: Eat protein every meal or stay hungry and grouchy.  This rule makes me laugh. Protein is so important to helping us stay full.  I notice a huge difference in my mood change when I am feeling hungry. We should never let it get to that point. Rule 4: Slash your intake of refined flours and grains. This is so important to losing weight. Also no grain after breakfast helps a lot! Rule 5: Eat 30 to 50 grams of fiber a day. This helps in every aspect of completely transforming your body and again helping you feel full in the good way. Rule 6: Eat apples and berries every single day.  This is great to do with breakfast and it truly does help you lose weight by eating your fruits in the morning. Rule 7: No carbs after lunch. This rule goes against everything most of us were raised on but it’s that important. If you eat your cards in the first part of the day, your body has all day to burn them off. Rule 8: Learn to read food labels.  This was a hard for me at first but it is so important to learn exactly what you are putting in your body.  Rule 9: Stop guessing about portion size and get it right.  A lot of times our minds are bigger than our stomach especially when we are really hungry. The glass of water before the meal really helps me eat the right portion size. Rule 10: No more added sweeteners.  It is best to eliminate all sugar when you can.  Get your sugar from all natural sugars. Its just healthier.  Rule 11: Get rid of white potatoes. Now there are so many options for different potatoes but a better choice would always be a sweet potato. Rule 12: Make one day a week meatless.  At my house this tradition is now called Meatless Monday.  It is followed by Taco Tuesday but its a start. Rule 13: Get rid of fast foods and fried foods. This rule was the hardest for my husband. We didn’t eat out a lot but when we did it was always fast and fried.  Now there are so many other healthy alternatives. Instead of a fried chicken sandwich at Chick-fil- A, we get the grilled chicken sandwiches. It is still considered fast food but you have to start somewhere.  Rule 14: Eat a real breakfast.  I remember my mom telling me this all the time and I guess she was right. It is important to start out the day with the right foods so you have enough energy to last through the day.  Rule 15: Make your own food and eat at least 10 meals a day at home.  This is easy if you have a lot of time.  The trick I found to this is planning all my meals a head of time and taking an hour on the weekend to do the prep work.  Rule 16: Banish high salt foods.  Salt is just not good for us.  Anything high in salt should not be included in your diet at all. I thought I would really miss this but once I did it, things like McDonalds french fries tasted way too salty and now they don’t even sound good.  Rule 17:  Eat your vegetables.  Figure out a way that makes vegetables taste good to you and eat them as much as you can. Rule 18: Go to bed hungry.  Why is it that I always get the most hungry at night? If I fight the urge to snack on sweet stuff and just go to bed my scale will look much better in the morning.  Rule 19: Sleep right.  This summer I have really been working on getting at least seven hours of sleep. Sometimes you have to drop what you are doing and just go to bed.  My favorite rule is last but not least.  Rule 20: Plan one splurge meal a week.  I leave this meal for the weekend when we are with our friends.  It feels like a reward since I have worked so hard all week.

These rules are not the easiest to follow but they are so worth it! I feel better than I ever have and hit my goal weight by making these changes. You will be surprised at how fast the changes become habit.  It is a lot of information so do what I did and start slow, changing one rule at a time. The results are so worth it!

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Paul and I went early this morning to set up the booth.  Everyone at Step Up was so nice and helpful.  It was great to be surrounded in the non-profit community as well.  We met a lot of people and got to learn about some great organizations that are fighting the fight against cancer right here in Colorado along with us. We made some great connections and it was so nice to have some people come check out the booth because they have seen us at past events.  Ryan came later to man the booth so Paul and I, along with our good friends Justin and Jen,could walk the stairs.  All 1,765 of them.

Step Up For Cancer did a great job today of bringing the non-profit community together and Besties with Testies was proud to be there.  It was only the fourth annual event but it felt very established and we look forward to participating next year.

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By Chris Robinson

Brian’s Song

When I was a kid, I saw this TV movie called Brian’s Song. It’s a true story about the friendship between two Chicago Bears players, Brian Piccolo (James Caan) and Gayle Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). Piccolo gets ill and eventually dies. The movie touched me deeply and stayed with me all my life. I’ve no idea why. I didn’t really understand the movie nor did I understand why he died. Still, something just touched me about the film. Was it about a loss of this friendship or someone dying before his time? (By the way, what does that phrase even mean? Are we like a container of milk? Do we have a delineated expiry date?)

Flash forward about 35 years or so. Late December 2010. I’m… let’s see… 43 years old. Whilst playing with my balls I noticed a marble sized lump in my right testicle (I find it funny – maybe strange – when people ask me how I discovered the mini-ball within the ball. I’m a guy. I play with my balls.)

I remember Not Really My Pops (a cop who was my adopted father) caught me touching myself. He admonished me for it (ironic, given his proclivity towards smacking his balls against the flesh of more than a few women) and told me it was a sin (again, strange since the guy wasn’t remotely religious). Fortunately, I ignored him and continue to stroke and fondle to this day – like virtually every other man in human history.

I can be a bit of a hypochondriac but strangely I wasn’t that concerned about the marble in my right ball. I calmly called my doctor to make an appointment. A week or two later, he was fondling my balls. After careful inspection he turned to me and said, “I’m somewhat concerned”. His eyes said so much more. He was about to head out on vacation so he made some calls to ensure I could get an ultrasound that very day (a minor miracle with the Canadian health system.)

I walked alone to the ultrasound. I just knew it was cancer.

And it was.

A biopsy was scheduled for January 31^st, 2011.  Odds were something like 95% likely that it was malignant. ‘Course that didn’t stop me from thinking, “what if it’s benign?” What if they took my ball out for nothing!? Can they replace it? Do they have a catalogue of balls? Can I get a steel ball with the AC/DC logo on it? I guess weight imbalance would be an issue. The steel ball would probably be hanging down to my knees.

Before surgery, I did some researching online about ball cancer. On the Testicular Resource Center website, I looked at the page about famous people who had ball cancer (for some reason it made me feel better to know that cancer equals the playing field regardless of your fame or wealth.) On that page I came across Brian’s Song. The text said that Brian Piccolo had died from testicular cancer. I was stunned.

When the results came in from the biopsy I was told that I had pure embryonal carcinoma with lymphovascular invasion. Incredibly, Piccolo had the exact same type.

I also learned that in Piccolo’s time the mortality rate for this type of ball cancer was about 90%.

An eerie shiver raced through my body.

Now it all made sense. I understood why Brian’s Song resonated with me my entire life.

Thirty years ago, this cancer would have killed me. Now, I’m facing 90% plus survival odds. It was terrifying to think how close I could have been to ashes, yet inspiring to see the progress that had been made with ball cancer.

I would live. I would endure this and resume a relatively normal life again. It would be a different life. The shadow of death follows us all and once you’ve had cancer, that shadow moves a little close and becomes more tangible and real.

But I am alive. I would live.

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Dan was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer. The cancer traveled into both of his lungs as well as his tracheal lymph nodes. Thankfulluy, not into his brain which would have moved him into stage four. He went through four cycles of chemotherapy, each three weeks long. He had some complications, an allergic reaction to some of the chemo, and after his first surgery, he developed three blood clots in his right leg as well as one in his lungs which caused him to be hospitalized longer.

Dan’s story has a happy ending. He has been cancer free since November 9^th, 2010. He said the whole process brought him a lot closer to family. He recently celebrated his 21^st birthday and became engaged to his girlfriend! Dan now gives back to the community by helping to support Besties with Testies in any way that he can.  He has raised a lot of money for us and always shows his support.  He even came out to Denver to help us make a video we can share with others about Testicular Cancer.  Thank you Dan, from all of us at Besties with Testies.  We could not do what we do, if it weren’t for people like you.

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Another fun place to catch a concert this summer is Elitches! Hot Chelle Rae will be there in July.  If you want a full schedule of the concerts the best site I found that splits up the concerts by the venue is at thrillcall.com/live-music.  Under each venue they have a full schedule so you can plan out your summer concert choices.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Global Dance Fest at Red Rocks this year.  Being the 10th annual Global Dance Fest in Colorado, you won’t want to miss the world’s premier dance music artists travel from afar, to perform at the beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater. Three whole days of electronic music starting on July 20th through the 22nd! Check out the artists and get your tickets here.

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The mission of Besties with Testies is to be activity promoting public interest and awareness in testicular cancer by informing the public in the field of early detection and self-examination, and providing tools and resources to testicular cancer awareness educators and advocates and testicular cancer patients and survivors via the internet and through organizing, conducting and attending projects and events to raise funds for testicular cancer awareness.

Chris Camozzi, a Mixed Martial Artist with a professional record of 16-5, is scheduled to compete at the upcoming UFC on FX 4 event on June 22nd in Atlantic City, NJ.  Chris will be competing against Nick Catone with the bout broadcast live on FuelTV, a FOX subsidiary.

Chris Camozzi, UFC Middlewight said, “I’m very excited to start working with Besties with Testies. I’m honored to be the first spokesperson for the organization.  As a young man only 25 myself I can personally relate to those at risk and want to help let young men everywhere know about how to catch testicular cancer before it can spread throughout your body.”

Paul Gibson, Marketing Director of Besties with Testies had this to say, “The war on Testicular Cancer is an uphill battle due to major lack of awareness currently in the United States. This disease is killing more men than any other cancer under the age of 40, but is almost completely curable! We are excited to have Chris come on board and take awareness up a notch and help us save lives, knocking out testicular cancer death and making the disease submit, just like Chris does to opponents in the ring!”.

About Besties with Testies:
Besties with Testies (BwT) is a Non-Profit Organization based out of Denver, Colorado, but fighting Testicular Cancer on a Nationwide Scale. BwT launched in early 2011 and has a goal of eliminating death from testicular cancer. You can get involved with Besties with Testies online, through social media, or by buying and wearing their products.

Learn more at www.bestieswithtesties.org or shop at www.shopbwt.com
Follow them at www.twitter.com/bwt_official and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bestieswithtesties

About Chris Camozzi:
Chris Camozzi is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  Camozzi began his professional career in 2006 and currently competes in the UFC. He holds a 16-5 record with a 4-2 UFC record.  Camozzi was also a competitor in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2010.  He is scheduled to face middleweight Nick Catone on June 22nd at the UFC on FOX: Maynard vs Guida event held at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Learn more about Chris Camozzi at http://www.ChrisCamozziMMA.com.

Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ChrisCamozzi and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ChrisCamozziMMA

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It is really easy to get started.  Go to our website www.bestieswithtesties.org and click on Team Besties.  From there you create a personal page.  On here you can set a personal fundraising goal and explain why you are doing your event and why you want to raise money for Besties with Testies.  You can also upload a picture of yourself and make it personal to you and your event.  Then you can share your page on your Facebook and Twitter. You can also email your friends and families asking them to help you reach your goal.  They can donate directly and securely from your page.  This makes fundraising fun and easy and gives your friends and family members the opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation. You can also create teams on our website. For any race you want to run as a team or for any competition, you could go make the page and tell your friends to go sign up and join your team.  Then you can work together to hit your goal.  Think outside the box, what if you had a personal goal to go skydiving this summer, say you will do it if your friends and family help you raise $500 for Besties with Testies.  Make your personal page and share it with everyone and watch the donations come it.  So, what are you doing this summer? And instead of doing it just for fun, do it for a great cause too! Join the movement and sign up today!

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 The China Study, a research study headed up by Dr. Colin Campbell, is one of the major resources I found.  Dr. Campbell performed research on the connection between nutrition and cancer, as well as heart disease and diabetes. He performed 20 years of research some in other countries and he found that people with high animal protein diets were the ones to more likely get cancer.  Working in the Philippines, he realized an alarming number of children were getting liver cancer, which is normally an adult disease.  He uncovered a “dark secret” with this project that the kids who ate less animal protein and had a more plant-based diet avoided the disease.

Doing most of his research in China, why it’s called the China Study, he found that “people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease … people who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. These results could not be ignored,” said Dr. Campbell.

Not only that, but he found that eating this way, a plant-based diet could reverse the affects of these deadly illnesses like cancer! The research is clear that cancer is influenced by our diets. One of the facts that shocked me the most was the protein that consistently and promoted cancer within the body is called Casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein.  The safe proteins that didn’t promote cancer even at high levels of intake were from plants, like wheat and soy.

To me this information is not the easiest to hear.  This is how I feed my family, with animal protein, and it makes you think more about the food you are putting in your body everyday.  I am going to continue my research and I suggest you do the same.  The links I used are listed below but there are many more out there.

http://www.thechinastudy.com/

http://www.thechinastudy.com/authors.html

Until next time,

Ashley

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For more information go to http://www.betanightclub.com/

Saturday 4/28/12

Doors open at 9:00pm

Beta Night Club

1909 Blake St
Denver CO 80202

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Helping to start Besties with Testies we had a similar reaction to our bands in high schools.  A student, Anthony, was selling our bands for us that say Besties with Testies and got called into the deans office who told him he needed to take the bands off and stop selling them because what they said was inappropriate and a distraction to students.  Anthony explained why he was selling the bands and told the dean that testicular cancer kills one-man everyday and it is the most easily treatable cancer. He also told him that it mostly affects men in the age range of 15 to 35, which includes all his friends at school. The dean was impressed and told him good job for spreading the word.

These bracelets may be a trend that will soon fade away but they could also save lives.  Let them serve as a reminder for men and women to be self- checking on a regular basis.

Until next time,

Ashley

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First Descents takes young adult cancer fighters and survivors on a free outdoor experience to empower them and lift them up above and beyond their cancer experience.  They focus on the age range of 18 to 35 year olds to help them realize that they can go beyond their diagnosis of cancer and be in control of their own lives. When we first heard about First Descents, all I could think was what an amazing idea to help cancer patients and survivors have an awesome life changing experience that they will never forget. Our co-founders Paul and Ryan got to meet with them about a month ago and it was great to connect with such a great company.

What is most interesting about First Descents is they offer a week long excursion for young adults for free! They take cancer patients and survivors and provide all meals and accommodations including the activities free of charge.  This is an amazing opportunity that First Descents offers and a great experience for anyone to take part in.

If you are reading this blog and are a testicular cancer survivor or patient or know of anyone who is a young adult who would be a perfect candidate for the First Descents experience, you can find them at http://firstdescents.org/about-us.

Learning about this company who helps cancer patients and survivors in this way makes me even more excited about what we are doing at Besties with Testies.  We want to help young adults but before they are ever diagnosed.  If men are performing regular self-exams, they will be able to catch testicular cancer before it spreads to other parts of their bodies.  This is why Besties with Testies is around! We want to make everyone aware of the risks and symptoms so no one needs to die ever again from testicular cancer.

I feel so lucky to be a part of this team at Besties with Testies, and I look forward to meeting and coming across more companies like First Descents who take this horrible disease and give back to those going through it in a creative and extraordinary experience.

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Click the above picture to download the Testicular Cancer infographic

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Earlier this month, I received a call from one of the closest people in my life that shook me to my core.

The call came in on a Monday. He explained to me that the day prior he was feeling some dizziness and had an upset stomach then Monday morning woke up with stomach pain and heavy feeling in his testicles. Without hesitation he called to make a doctors appointment for the following day. Being thousands of miles away I felt helpless and wanted so bad to comfort him. I could tell he was nervous. I thought how can this be happening to someone so close in my life again? I will never forget the day I received the news from my best friend and brother in law that he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. There is just something about that word, CANCER, that makes your mind go blurry and knots tie in the pit of your stomach.

But then he said this to me,”Because of Besties With Testies I know the signs and symptoms to look for and know that the sooner I go to the doctor the better chance I have if it is truly testicular cancer.”

Wow, what an impacting statement. It made me so proud to know that Besties With Testies is serving it’s purpose of raising Testicular Cancer Awareness and people are actually taking the knowledge and applying to their own lives.

He preceded to go to the doctor and got an exam and blood work done. A few days later the results came back showing that he had a virus in his body that would be easily cured with antibiotics. The doctors told him how proud they were that at the first signs he came into see them and was not ashamed.

While my mind is now at ease knowing he is ok, I still hope and pray that those of you that Besties With Testies is reaching takes this knowledge seriously and takes action to self exam and speak up.

Dionna

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We could not have done it without one of our good friends, Nick Miller, a bartender there.  He set us up with the managers who did a great job pulling off the event.  They served all New Orleans style food that was delicious, as well as samples of great beer from nine different micro-brewers.

All the Above clothing company was kind enough to participate in the event.  ATA sported their Besties with Testies t-shirts and everyone loved the design! We can’t thank All the Above enough for all they have done in the month of February with us.  We feel so blessed they chose our non-profit to work with this month. It was great to have them at the event as well.

This great night would not have been possible without our supporters showing up! Thanks to all of you that did, we raised over $600! Again, I am overwhelmed by all the support our followers show. Keep it up! We are making a difference. From all of us on the Besties Team, thank you!

Check out the pictures of the event taken by Dionna McCarthy

Until next time,

Ashley

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Clint was diagnosed with advanced Stage 3c testicular cancer on February 12, 2011. His tumor consisted of every known testicular cancer cell type: embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma, yolk sac tumor, and teratoma. He endured major complications – respiratory failure, a blood infection, a pleural effusion, and a grand mal seizure – all within six months of his diagnosis. He began VIP chemotherapy on February 15, 2011 and received four rounds of this very potent cocktail consisting of Etoposide, Ifosfamide, and Cisplatin every two weeks until April 22, 2011. It is usually reserved as a salvage or second-line option.

On June 27, 2011, it was confirmed that the cancer has spread to his brain. On June 29, 2011, an open craniotomy was performed to remove the tumor responsible for causing the grand mal seizure. Between July 20-22, 2011 he underwent Cyberknife sterotactic radiation therapy with the hopes of controlling the brain disease. However, on September 14, 2011 he was diagnosed with two additional brain tumors. He had another craniotomy on September 16, 2011. On September 21, 2011 we consulted with Dr. Craig Nichols – a world renounced testicular cancer expert in Seattle, Washington – that Clint was terminally ill. Clint began the first of 15 fractions of 37 gy whole brain radiation on September 27. He was admitted to hospice on October 27, 2011.

Clint passed away at home surrounded by his loving family the evening of December 11, 2011.

Bio by Angela Miller

Within the few short months Clint found out that he had testicular cancer he dedicated his life to spreading Testicular Cancer Awareness. He inspired many, including the team here at Besties With Testies. His story is one of many that people should know and hear about. If you would like to subscribe to his Facebook prayer and support page for his family here is the link http://www.facebook.com/groups/173126609400592/

We would love to share your personal testicular cancer stories on our blog. If you are a testicular cancer patient/ survivor or a family member/ friend of someone that has been through testicular cancer, please email your stories to info@bestieswithtesties.org. Besties With Testies would love to use your story to educate others!

Please feel free to share this story with your friends and family!

Thanks everyone,

Dionna McCarthy

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Click the image to download the flyer (150MB)

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A lot of cancer non-profit organizations are asking for money for research and that is great because doctors and scientists everyday need funds to research this horrible disease.  We are different though. We are not asking money for research, we need funds to spread the word that testicular cancer kills but it doesn’t have to.  All you have to do is monthly self-exams.  What if you could stop someone dying from testicular cancer? Would you? Of course you would! We can do that with Besties with Testies.  Men die everyday and they don’t have to! With testicular cancer, when caught early it is over 90% curable and for it to be caught early, men need to be regularly checking themselves.  Just like woman need to with breast cancer.  I cant even count how many times I have seen programs or talk shows or been reminded by my doctor to check for lumps in my breasts on a monthly basis.  If you ask my husband, he has never been asked by a doctor or seen a program on TV talking about how important it is for him to self-check.  Why is this?

There are a lot of reasons.  For one, everyone knows someone that has been affected by breast cancer.  The statistics are much higher. But still, one man dies everyday and they don’t have to.  Testicular cancer is something that we can beat if we all come together and get the word out to every man that it is important and it can happen to anyone.  For Besties with Testies to spread testicular cancer awareness to everyone everywhere, we need your help. We need to print educational brochures that we can pass out to doctor’s offices, high school, clinics, and hospitals.  We want to create shower cards that hang in the showers that remind men to self-exam while they are in the shower on the monthly basis.  Think about it, a quick five-minute check could save your life.  We also want to go to Warp Tour this summer and spread the awareness to 700,000 young men across the country in 42 major cities. This would be huge and we could really start to reach young men everywhere.

I know that everyday you get bogged down with people asking you to donate to their cause and why it’s important. Today, Besties needs your donation to continue doing what we are doing to spread testicular cancer awareness. All you have to do is go to http://www.bestieswithtesties.org/join-the-movement/donate/ to donate and help us to accomplish our goal of zero deaths in the United States from testicular cancer.  Even if all 4,395 of our followers on Facebook just donated $1, think of all the lives we could save!! So again, I ask if you could save someone’s life from testicular cancer, would you?

Until next time,

Ashley

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Something great has happened in the recent years. Our generation has made giving back and supporting various good causes, a trendy decision. Whether it be boobies or starving children around the world, it seems like many want to be involved. It is not a new idea but thanks to social media, non-profits all over the globe have gained rising recognition.

With all the great causes to choose from, why choose testicular cancer? This is a question that has circulated throughout the Besties with Testies staff. One night at our weekly meeting, we devoted our entire meeting to discussing this very question. What personally motivated us to care for this cause? With unified answers we developed the following:

1. First and foremost, Testicular Cancer affected someone we all know and care for deeply. My dear best friend and brother in law Sean went through surgery and 3 rounds of chemo. He is currently cancer free! Hear Sean’s story here.

2. The awareness of testicular cancer is not well known. When the word “cancer” comes to mind most people think breast cancer or lung cancer. Testicular cancer is not a thought of cancer. Not until Lance Armstrong was diagnosed, did I know testicular cancer even existed. To come to find out not many people know either. So with the help of a local video company, Definite Productions, we created a Testicular Cancer Public Service Announcement

3. Young men are under educated about the signs and symptoms of testicular cancer. Telling  young men to feel themselves, and then to speak up they find something is not a conversation many parents and health care providers want to talk about. But why wouldn’t you want them to know that testicular cancer is the most treatable cancer if detected early enough? So we wanted to provide an education page on our website where men can learn how to self check and what to look for.

4.  Hearing the stories of survivors and their families, are inspiring. For example, when Sean was declared cancer free he said something that really resonated with me,”I beat something that kills people everyday, cancer.” It doesn’t get any more inspirational then that. Sean’s survival inspired us to begin Besties With Testies and even develop or our branding.

5. Hearing the stories from the families of those who did not survive are saddening and drive us to want educate our nation.  When a family loses their dad right before Christmas after a year long battle with testicular cancer. My heart aches for that family and motivates me to want to share the importance of this cause. We urge that people become involved with this cause to help spread awareness and prevent any family from losing a loved one.

Our reasons for doing what we do inspired me to write this blog post. In my opinion, we are the generation of entrepreneurs, of small businesses, and the believers in changing how our world connects. Therefore, we see opportunity to help one another. Our transcendent visions and willingness to better ourselves by bettering the well being of others has thus created the generation the gives back.

How can you support a good cause or give back? Something to think about today! If you are interested in supporting Besties With Testies to help us continue our goals in raising awareness for Testicular Cancer you can donate here.

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This is the easiest way to help get us on the first page of Google, raise awareness, and comment with the community.

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We have made this process super easy to share our blog posts on Twitter. Below each blog post you will find links to share the blog post itself.  You can also like, tweet, or even Google+ the whole thing!

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You can use the button’s on the top of this website, and in the footer to go to our facebook page and “like” us. Don’t forget to “like” the site on the top right of your screen.

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We have two teams, or levels of involvement you can join:

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Welcome to the Besties with Testlies Blog! We are so excited to get this rolling because we want all of you out there to be a part of what we are working on to raise awareness for testicular cancer and save lives!

Look forward to hearing stories from survivors, updates on our company, big events that we will be a part of, and much more!

For those of you that don’t know a lot about Besties with Testies, we started last year in March. It has been an amazing adventure for our now five-team members plus an additional four board members, and as we kick off the New Year, we are looking forward to educating more young men and making them aware of the symptoms and reminding them to self-check.

The founders of our company, Paul Cooke Jr and Ryan McCarthy, do an excellent job of keeping our team on track with our mission to raise awareness for testicular cancer by having an exclusive focus on early detection.  Ryan is a web designer and keeps up our website so it is always current with the correct information.  He set up the online store and also works on all our graphics that appear on our merchandise. My husband Paul has a sales background and focuses on raising donations and selling awareness merchandise.

The rest of our team is extremely dedicated to the cause as well. Our social media representative is Paul Gibson who is located out of St. Joseph Missouri.  If you follow our Facebook and Twitter you will see all of “Gibbys” creative posts. Then you have Dionna McCarthy who is the best friend a girl could ever ask for.  She is great at event planning.  Last is me, Ashley Cooke, and my passion has always been writing. I look forward to posting a blog weekly! Since our team is still small and growing we all jump on any task that comes up.  We all help with sales and marketing and you will hear from each team member on the blog at some point.

Stay tuned so you know whats going on in the fight against testicular cancer. Our team has a goal of zero deaths from TC in the United States.  We can achieve this with your help.  Together we can make a difference and save lives.  Join the movement, and continue to follow our blog!

Until next time,

Ashley

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Help us to continue to educate on Testicular Cancer  – Donate today!

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You can download our virtual brochure HERE

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Help us to continue to educate on Testicular Cancer  – Donate today!

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• Do the self-examination lying in a warm bath or while having a long shower, as this softens the skin of the scrotum (skin sac that holds the testicles), which makes it easier to feel the testicles inside.
• Examine the scrotum, looking for any lumps on the skin or swellings inside.
• Cradle the whole scrotum and testicles in the palm of your hand and feel the difference between the testicles. One is almost always larger and lying lower. This is completely normal.
• Examine each testicle in turn, and then compare them with each other. Use both hands and gently roll each testicle between thumb and forefinger.
• Check for any lumps or swellings as both testicles should be smooth except where the duct that carries sperm to the penis, the epididymis, runs. This lies along the top and back of the testicle and normally feels bumpy.

Although testicular cancer is rare, it is not at all uncommon to find a lump in your testicles. There are many conditions that can be easily confused with testicular cancer, and most of them are not anything as serious.

If you have performed a self-examination and found a lump or noticed a change in size, you are advised to go to your doctor for further examination.

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Many men worry that losing one testicle will affect their ability to have sexual intercourse or make them sterile. Truth: a man with one healthy testicle can still have a normal erection and produce sperm. Therefore, an operation to remove just one testicle does not make a patient impotent and seldom interferes with fertility.

The worry of these men is that after surgery to remove a testicle or even other forms of treatment their ability to have sex will be compromised, even becoming impotent or sterile. The fact is, men who have lost a testicle due to cancer or some other means still has a healthy testicle left and that means being able to have an erection and the ability to produce sperm. The removal of a testicle does mean an enforced down time and men should wait a few weeks for recuperation time to be effective.

Surgeries involving the lymph nodes normally does not affect sexual function like orgasms or erection, however it can have some repercussions on ejaculation and fertility

For some men, the action still feels the same, only there is no ejaculate. For other men though, they notice a difference in their sex life.

With radiation therapy or chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer, most men do not see any changes whatsoever in their sexual ability. Radiation therapy does affect sperm count. Men who still wish to father children may find their sperm counts plummeting. Most patients do recover from this sperm count drop with no ill effects but others do have problems. For this reason, some doctors may advise men to bank their sperm just in case.

The side effects of chemo can hinder the desire to have sex. The drug cocktails in chemotherapy do hamper sperm count and production. There is a greater chance that men could become sterile with this treatment plan. Sperm banking is suggested for both treatment options, and strongly advised if men have a to father children.

Doctors do advise men to use condoms during sex, even when with a monogamous partner. The reason for this is because the chemotherapy drugs can pass through the ejaculate to a sexual partner. Not much is known on how much the partner is affected by these drugs so it is best to avoid the possibility all together with condoms.

The bottom line is, each man who has testicular cancer and has been treated or is going through treatment will act differently in his sex life. One man may have no ill effects and have a good sex drive while another may need to have some type of hormonal therapy in order to reestablish that desire for sex. The key is to communicate effectively with the doctor, as they are the best resource for suggesting various methods to maintain a healthy sex life after testicular cancer treatment. A patient and understanding partner is also a great help through the process.

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• Type of testicular tumor
• Stage of the tumor

Once cancer is found, the first step is to determine the type of cancer cell by examining it under a microscope. The cells can be seminoma, nonseminoma, or both.

The next step is to determine how far the cancer has spread to other parts of the body. This is called “staging.”

• Stage I cancer has not spread beyond the testicle.
• Stage II cancer has spread to lymph nodes in the abdomen.
• Stage III cancer has spread beyond the lymph nodes (it could be as far as the liver, lungs, or brain).

FOUR TYPES OF TREATMENT CAN BE USED.

• A period called Watchful Waiting is a period of time during which you are being monitored by your doctor but are not receiving treatment. It is also called observation or surveillance.
• Surgical treatment removes the testicle (orchiectomy) and may also remove nearby lymph nodes (lymphadenectomy). This is usually performed in the case of both seminoma and nonseminomas.
• Radiation therapy using high-dose x-rays or other high-energy rays may be used after surgery to prevent the tumor from returning. Radiation therapy is usually only used for treating seminomas.
• Chemotherapy uses drugs such as cisplatin, bleomycin, and etoposide to kill cancer cells. This treatment has greatly improved survival for patients with both seminomas and nonseminomas.

Some stage 1 testicular cancers are successfully treated with watchful waiting programs rather than chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This option involves frequent exams as well as blood and imaging tests to monitor your condition.

WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS OF TREATMENT FOR TESTICULAR CANCER?

The treatments used against cancer must be very powerful, and that is why some patients may have some unpleasant side effects.

Radiation therapy affects both normal and cancerous cells, but normal cells are able to recover, and recent updates in radiation therapy have greatly reduced the amount of collateral “scatter”. Having treatments 5 days a week, for several weeks, spreads out the total dose of radiation and gives the patient weekend rest breaks to recover. Nevertheless, the body must work very hard during radiation therapy to repair the tissues injured by the treatment. Patients may feel unusually tired with periods of nausea, and they should try to rest as much as possible. There may also be skin reactions in the area being treated, and it is important to treat the skin gently. Lotions and creams should not be used on these areas without the doctor’s advice.

Chemotherapy causes side effects because it damages not only cancer cells, but other rapidly growing cells as well, such as hair and gum tissue. Often anticancer drugs are given in cycles, with treatment periods alternating with rest periods. The side effects of chemotherapy depend on the specific drugs that are given and the response of the individual patient. These drugs commonly affect hair cells, blood-forming cells, and cells that line the digestive tract. As a result, they may cause various problems, including hair loss, lowered resistance to infection, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, and mouth sores.

Loss of appetite can be a serious problem for patients receiving either radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Researchers are learning that patients who eat well are better able to withstand the side effects of their treatment. Therefore, good nutrition is important. Eating well means getting enough calories to prevent weight loss and having enough protein to build and repair skin, hair, muscles and organs. Many patients find that having several small meals and snacks throughout the day is easier than trying to eat three large meals.

The side effects of cancer therapy vary from person to person and may even be different from one treatment to the next in the same patient. Attempts are made to plan treatment to minimize problems. Fortunately, most side effects are temporary. Doctors, nurses, and dietitians can explain the side effects of cancer treatment and suggest ways to deal with them.

This is presented for general information only and is not intended as medical advice.  Please contact a physician if medical advice is indicated or necessary.

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The testicles  are a pair of male sex glands. They produce and store sperm and are the main source of testosterone (male hormones) in men. The testicles are located under the penis in a sac-like pouch called the scrotum.

Cancer is a malignant and invasive growth or tumor, especially one originating in epithelium, tending to recur after excision and to metastasize to other sites.

Testicular Cancer is a cancer of the testicles. Based on the characteristics of the cells in the tumor, testicular cancers are classified as seminomas or nonseminomas.

• Seminoma is a slow-growing form of testicular cancer usually found in men later in life. It is usually just in the testes, but it can spread to the lymph nodes. Seminomas are very sensitive to radiation therapy. Nonseminoma is the more common type of testicular cancer tends to grow more quickly than seminomas.
• Nonseminoma tumors are often made up of more than one type of cell, and are identified according to these different cell types: Choriocarcinoma (rare), Embryonal carcinoma, Teratoma and Yolk sac tumors. Testicular tumors may contain both seminoma and nonseminoma cells.

There may be no symptoms. Symptoms that may occur can include:

• Discomfort or pain in the testicle, or a feeling of heaviness in the scrotum
• Pain in the back or lower abdomen
• Enlargement of a testicle or a change in the way it feels
• Excess development of breast tissue (gynecomastia), however, this can occur normally in adolescent boys who do not have testicular cancer
• Lump or swelling in either testicle

Symptoms in other parts of the body, such as the lungs, abdomen, pelvis, back, or brain, may also occur if the cancer has spread.

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Aside from his strong work ethic, Don enjoys riding his Harley and spending time with his family.  He is very passionate about the cause of raising awareness for testicular cancer and views serving on this board as a great honor.

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In his free time, Sean enjoys  reading, coffee shops, going on road trips, and working on his motorcycle.

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She attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where she was studying to become a teacher. After working in the school district for a few years she found a new passion for event planning. Dionna is currently a nanny for two little girls and is also a second shooter for her husband’s photography business (www.adeptinkandpixel.com). Dionna is hopeful to one day own and operate her own event planning business.

Aside from enjoying being involved with Besties With Testies, she also enjoys photography, interior design, swimming, and traveling.

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Full time she works as a nanny in Highlands Ranch watching three kids for a family she has been with for two years. When she is not working, her and her husband Paul like to spend time with family and friends, and their dog Wooly. They also regularly attend Mammoth Games as 6th year season ticket holders.

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Paul Gibson has been with [bestieswithtesties] since its launch, and currently serves as Vice President of the Board and as Director of Marketing and Social Media.

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Ryan graduated from the Art institute of Pittsburgh with an Associate of Science degree in Interactive Media Design. Ryan is married to the woman of his dreams, Dionna. He enjoys eating and sleeping in his free time.

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As a Colorado native, Paul enjoys spending time in outdoors in the Rocky Mountains.  Paul is a big sports fan, always cheering for the home team. His favorite teams are the Denver Broncos, Colorado Mammoth, Colorado Rockies, and Colorado Avalanche. Paul is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Ashley.

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