Symptoms and diagnosis

One day I started having excruciating pain in my lower abdomen. First I went to the hospital. I was diagnosed in 2009 and I was 26. Testicular cancer wasn't that common then. So they thought I could have a hernia or kidney infection. They gave me some medication and told me to go back home. And then all of a sudden, excruciating pain happened again. And I had to be admitted. When I woke up, they were doing an ultrasound. They said there was torsion with my left testicle, and it needed to be removed. However, another scan showed it was not a torsion but testicular cancer. 

Treatments underwent

After performing an abdominal scan, doctors removed my testicle. The doctors said I had cancer cells in my abdominal areas quite a bit. I needed surgery followed by chemo or radiation. I fought against having chemo. I talked to my doctors, and they said, all right, we could give you around chemo before see if we can shrink some of the cancer cells, and then we can go to the RPM and D. And I said, well if you're going to try and shrink it, it's not going to do much. So I had successful surgery. They monitored me month to month, and I never had to have chemotherapy. 

A new outlook on life

Cancer doesn't define me. It is something that happened to me and I built some of the best friends and communities based on this. I look at it as a positive. I am who I am today because of it. Cancer was supposed to happen to me so that I could save and help others. One line I always say in my documentary is Cancer Saved My Life. I do yoga and meditation every day. I don't let things stress me out anymore. 

You choose what you want to receive. You're impacted by others, words, energy, everything. You impact people's lives just in the littlest things that people don't even know about. So that's one thing that I'd probably end on that note just being mindful of how your energy is being projected out into the universe. 

Inspiring others

Cancer woke me up. I needed to be an impactful mentor for other young people. One opinion isn't the only option for you. I've seen situations where people are impacted by a choice to have chemo or not to have. If I just listen to that doctor and have chemo, then I may have some other implications down the road. And if I didn't have to have it, then here I am. I could have had a relapse or not been able to procreate. I have a son now. But I realized that I had a bigger purpose in life. My initials were TC, the same as testicular cancer. I started getting a lot of recognition, and I need to bring a lot of attention to this cause.

I love speaking to young survivors and other people going through different stages. Twelve years later, I have a streaming platform. It's called Stream Moco. I'm a TV producer, and my streaming platform is all about charitable give-back.