Check Your Body: Aussie Dancer Shares Testicular Cancer Journey
Image: Image: Facebook
A Queensland-based dancer and cabaret performer is hoping to spread awareness about testicular cancer after months of facing down the disease.
Jared Mifsud, 30, cabaret star and dancer, who lives in Gold Coast has been documenting his treatment.
Back on May 18, Mifsud posted to social media that “something didn’t feel right downstairs.”
He continued, “I found a growth on my left testicle. I booked an appointment to see my GP and he referred me immediately to get an Ultra Sound.
“The following Tuesday I got the news that the growth was suspicious and I was referred to see a specialist that very next day. I sat down in her office on Wednesday and was given the news that It’s extremely likely that I have testicular cancer, a phrase I never thought I would have to hear.”
‘This Is Your Reminder’
“The “good news” is that once they remove the testicle majority of patients make a full recovery. The next day I got the call that my surgery had been booked in for the following Monday.”
He went on to warn people, writing, “This is your reminder to check not just your balls but your bodies, if something doesn’t feel right then get it looked at, cause if I hadn’t I would never have found it and we could be dealing with a very different story right now.”
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On May 31, Mifsud received the bad news that his cancer had spread and that he would now have to “undergo some pretty intense chemo thereapy over the next three months.”
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On July 5, he reached the next “milestone” in his treatment. As his hair had started to fall out from the treatment, Mifsud posted that his barber came over to his house to shave off the rest of his hair. Four of his friends also had their hair shaved off in solidarity.
He wrote, “something that I had been dreading turned into a celebration of realising that this is just the next step in beating this bitch of a disease.”
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Beginning The Recovery Process
On August 8, after three months and three cycles of chemotherapy, Mifsud reached the last day of his treatment and received some good news.
“After 3 cycles of chemotherapy and four consistent blood tests showing that my tumour markers have stabilised it means treatment has worked!!”
He went on to write, “I’m looking forward to beginning the recovery process, celebrating this milestone and to slowly getting back out there and seeing people in person again, so here’s to the next steps and to still taking it one day at a time.”
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On August 15, Mifsud posted on Facebook, “Today was the first Monday since the 13th of June that I didn’t have to have chemo and I’m feeling pretty bloody good about that.”
Mifsud hâd in February 2022, shared about growing up gay and studying in Brisbane’s Citipointe College, which was then in the news for its anti-LGBTQI student enrolment contract that condemned homosexuality.
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