Platinum-Resistant Testicular Cancer: BEP, VIP, ToPCaT and a Stem Cell Transplant
Platinum-Resistant Testicular Cancer: BEP, VIP, ToPCaT and a Stem Cell Transplant
Episode 131
When Phil Mamwell first felt sharp, shooting pains, he did what too many men do — he told himself he'd be all right and hoped it would pass. By the time the excavator driver from rural Lincolnshire, England, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in his late 30s, it had already metastasized. In this raw and honest episode of It Takes Balls, Phil shares two years of hell — and the hard-won perspective that came with surviving against the odds.
Phil's story is a powerful reminder of why early detection matters. Testicular cancer had never been on his radar, and he's candid that had he been seen sooner, he might have needed nothing more than an orchiectomy.
He could feel the BEP working almost immediately as his tumor shrank — only for the cancer to return six weeks later, right around Christmas. From there, Phil faced relapse after relapse. His orchiectomy came after his first chemo, with tumor markers still rising. Second-line VIP chemotherapy followed, along with a stem cell harvest he was certain he'd never need. When the disease came back yet again, he was given a roughly 20% chance of survival and chose high-dose ToPCaT chemotherapy, followed by a stem cell transplant and, finally, an RPLND to remove the residual tumors. The pathology came back with no evidence of disease.
Phil doesn't sugarcoat survivorship. He lives with chemo brain, ringing in his ears, and neuropathy, and his hair never fully grew back. He speaks movingly about the survivor's guilt he carries after losing a fellow patient from his own town — a young man with the same embryonal carcinoma diagnosis whom he'd befriended and encouraged. And he's honest about how disorienting remission can be, describing himself as "a dog on a lead" suddenly let loose, not quite trusting it's over until he reaches the ten-year mark at 50.
Through it all, Phil credits his wife — who graduated as a nurse mid-treatment — along with his kids, parents, friends, and employer for carrying him through. His advice to men in their late 30s and beyond is simple and urgent: don't make the mistake he did. Check yourself, see a doctor, and don't leave it. Look after your balls.
Provide your feedback on the podcast here.
Click the links below to listen:
