John Rezendes' Quick Recovery

The year 2022 will always be known as the worst year in the Rezendes family.

John Rezendes enlisted in the Navy January 2014 and served on active duty for 5 years. In 2018 he transitioned to the Navy Reserves continuing his service to his country, while also employed by the Department Of Defense in his civilian career.

On January 6, 2022, he was mobilized back to active duty and arrived in Bahrain in February. He was away from his family back home, including his wife, his seven-year-old daughter, and his five-year-old son, for what was planned as a ten-month deployment.

In April 2022, John’s mother passed suddenly, and he was sent home for 2 weeks to attend the family. Returning to Bahrain he knew that he had to maintain a positive attitude while grieving to get through the next 5 months.

While on Active Duty he had heard that receiving a Vasectomy was possible and that medical coverage would be paid by the military. He and his wife had decided they no longer wanted any more children - John underwent the procedure in June 2022.

Following the surgery, he began to experience discomfort in his testicles, which was considered “normal”. After 2 months of this discomfort the right testicle returned to normal, but the left began to show more symptoms. He was referred to a urologist from the Bahrain Defense Forces in September to investigate. As soon as the doctor performed an examination, he immediately ordered lab work and ultrasound. However, neither showed signs of testicular cancer. Returning to his primary care on the Naval Base, he was told to finish deployment and get it checked out back in the states.

30 long days of uncertainty went by, ending his successful deployment, during which he earned his Information Warfare Designation and was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal. Though testicular pain and discomfort, along with anxiety, often occupied his mind.

John arrived back in the United States in October and was seen at Portsmouth Naval Hospital 10 days after arriving. The urologist took one look at his left testicle and said “You have been walking around like this for a month? Petty Officer Rezendes that has to come out tomorrow.”

Now the anxiety was flooding John as he called his wife to tell her the bad news. His wife lined up childcare and drove 4 hours south to Norfolk, VA the next day to support John in his orchiectomy.

After the orchiectomy was completed, John was able to go home to West Virginia and recover on convalescent leave. Two weeks later, he returned to Norfolk to be assigned to the Reserve Medical Hold Command. Upon the check-in process he was informed that his medical care would continue at Walter Reed Military Medical Hospital. Luckily for John, this facility was a mere hour’s drive from home. He was sent home to continue treatment.

Quickly establishing care with Walter Reed’s testicular cancer team, he met some of the best doctors in this field - Dr. Kern and Dr. Chesnut! After the pathology came back it was confirmed testicular cancer non-seminoma (Yolk Sack, Embryonal Carcinoma and Choriocarcinoma). His team ordered another CT scan and unfortunately, the cancer was confirmed to have metastasized to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes, establishing stage 2A.

On February 21st, 2023, John received the primary RPLND surgery, performed by Dr. Kern. Just before the surgery he had many doctors advise him to walk as soon as he could afterward. Which is exactly what he did!

As soon as he regained consciousness, he told the nurse “I want to walk”. The nurse hesitated and made him wait an hour to ensure that it was him and not the anesthesia talking.

An hour later he told his wife “Get the nurse, I want to walk”.

The nurse returned, once again questioning his request to walk; but sure enough, after a painful 5-minute effort to get out of bed, HE WALKED…. He only made it around his room once before becoming exhausted, lying down and going back to sleep.

But an hour later he woke up, wanting to walk again. This time, he went out of the room and a little down the hall and back. More and more each time, which he claims is why he recovered as quickly as he did. Only 36 hours after the surgery, John was discharged due to his speedy recovery.

Of course, he was not out of the woods yet. He was set up at the Fisher House at Walter Reed for the following week as a precaution. John passes along the bit of advice he received from a fellow survivor: “If RPLND is in your future, buy a wedge pillow. Lifesaver for getting in and out of bed.”

After that week, he was sent home to continue his recovery.

In May of 2024 after over a year of surveillance the doctors, Reserve Medical Hold Command and Petty Officer Rezendes were finally comfortable returning him to the Reserves and discharging him from his active-duty status.

John continues to serve in the United States Naval Reserve Forces while in remission. He is a strong advocate for military members performing self-exams for testicular cancer and is never ashamed to share his story to spread awareness. His journey has humbled him and given him a new perspective on life. Young men, especially those in the armed forces, can feel invincible at times until they hear the word cancer.

This experience has also strengthened the unconditional love he has for his wife. Her devoted support stood as the foundation of his physical and mental fight through the disease.