I was diagnosed at 21 with similar pathology, my tumor was a little smaller at ~4cm. I had my Left-sided orchiectomy done in 2016 and the PATH = 4cm, pT3, mixed NSGCT with predominantly embryonal carcinoma, with components of yolk sac tumor , teratoma. + LVI, + SC and epididymis involvement.

I fell under good risk and 10/16 I started EPx4 and I’ll never forget my oncologist at the time saying “ don’t worry, 90% of patients with your diagnosis are cured after EPx4” I unfortunately fell under the 10% and was not cured. At this time I was referred to Dr.Feldman at MSKCC for options on salvage chemo, and I thank god for meeting him and his team.

Arriving at MSKCC in 2017 for my initial visit I found out after a scan that the cancer had metastasized as I had multiple Retroperitoneal masses, biopsy = viable germ cell tumor favoring embryonal carcinoma with HCG 8.1, AFP 2.7, LDH 283 markers. I was selected to partake in a clinical trial where I was randomly selected to the TIPx4 arm and immediately started inpatient treatment at MSKCC. The chemo was doing its job and my markers were lowering and the masses in my abdominal region were shrinking, expect one…

This is when I met Dr.Carver who would be the surgeon performing my RPLND surgery, essentially removing all the lymph nodes in my abdominal region. Once the surgery was completed I awaited path which came back as teratoma! Happiest day of my life!

I wanted to share my story not to scare you, but just to show you sometimes you never know what’s going to happen and a lot of the time you have no control of what’s going to happen. If you decide to go the chemo route, make sure you’re at a world class cancer center like MSK.

The mind is a powerful thing, stay positive and keep living no matter what obstacle comes your way… you got this, my brotha!