MacEwan nursing students educate young men at NAIT about testicular cancer

Men get hit where it hurts the most. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, last year, 11,100 Canadian men were diagnosed with testicular cancer. With numbers like that, people are looking for ways to remind men to check themselves. But that’s no easy task, as there isn’t anything as symbolic as, say a pink ribbon.

“It’s kind of weird that breast cancer we’re not afraid to talk about but testicular cancer, not as casual to talk about,” said Christine Bannerman, supervisor at NAIT’s Health Services.

So to reduce the stigma attached to testicular cancer, two MacEwan nursing students set up a booth at NAIT that teaches all about testicular cancer among other diseases as part of Movember.

One of the teaching tools,  at the booth, is a pair of water balloons in a shoebox. One balloon is a water balloon, the other has rice and lentils in it, representing the tumours. If you have testicular cancer, your testicle would feel like the second balloon.

“Anytime you feel anything abnormal, any lump, you need to get that reported,” urges Bannerman.

The reason they set up on campus is that men the age of the average post-secondary student are most likely to contract testicular cancer.

“Testicular cancer is most common in males age 15 to 39 and about a thousand men are diagnosed every single year,” said Ashley Pike, one of the nursing students running running the booth.

“Know Thy Nuts,” a PSA by the Movember Foundation, was playing at the booth reminding students to “give their nuts the recognition they deserve.”

Movember Foundation says that men have a 95% chance of survival if they get diagnosed with testicular cancer.

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