Mom issues health warning after 16-year-old son dies of testicular cancer

By | May 21, 2013

After the recent loss of their 16-year-old son from testicular cancer, one family is urging other young men to get checked regularly, Gazette Live reported.

Michael Rushby from Grangetown, England waited eight long months before telling his brother John on April 17 that he had found a lump on one of his testicles.  

“He said he had a problem and showed me one of his testicles,” John told Gazette Live. “The lump was obvious so I took him straight to (the emergency room). The doctor said just by looking at it there was an 80 percent chance it was cancer.”

The next day, Michael – known as Mikey by friends and family – was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and doctors discovered that the cancer had also spread to his abdomen and chest.

Despite his late diagnosis, Mikey was given a 75 percent chance of survival.  He underwent a week of chemotherapy at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital and returned home on Friday, April 26.  

The following Monday, he was set to return to the hospital for another round of treatments.  But as he was heading downstairs, he lost his strength and collapsed.  He was taken to James Cook, where he died later that day.  It had only been two weeks since he had told his brother about his lump.

Now Mikey’s family is speaking out about their son’s death, urging others to get regular health checkups and to not feel ashamed about their medical issues.

“I want to say to anyone who ever thinks they might have a problem, go to your mum, go to your dad, go to someone,” Patricia Rushby, Mike’s mom, told Gazette Live. “Mikey could have come to his mum - I wouldn’t have been embarrassed.”

“He was my baby. I loved him to pieces,” Patricia said. “I want other young people to know what we have gone through. I wouldn’t want any family to go through what we have.”

Click for more from Gazette Live.

source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/after-16-year-old-son-dies-testicular-cancer-mom-urges-others-to-get-checked/

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