Life Changes Quickly: Surviving testicular cancer

At the age of 20, Nathan Patterson was diagnosed with testicular cancer on March 18, 2020. As a student studying business management at Ole Miss in University, Miss., with plans to take over his family’s business in Cape Girardeau, he was on spring break in Key West, Fla., with his friends when the pain in his testicle he’d been experiencing for two weeks became unbearable. His friend and fraternity brother drove him to the hospital.

After having an ultrasound, the doctor told Patterson it was possible it was cancer. Patterson informed his family in a group text. After discussing it with each other, the Pattersons believed it was not cancer due to Patterson’s age and the fact they had no history of testicular cancer in their family.

When Patterson and his friends were on their way back from Key West four days after his visit to the ER, they were notified the pandemic would be shutting down classes at Ole Miss, bringing Patterson back home to his family in Missouri.

“About a week after spring break, I went home and went to see a doctor there,” he says. “It took him a whole five minutes before he said, ‘Yep. You have testicular cancer,’ and it was a shock to me. Just a blow. I just never thought, at 20 years old, something like that could affect me.”

From there, Patterson and his family began going from doctor appointment to doctor appointment looking for options for treatment. Patterson was given the option of beginning chemotherapy or monitoring himself, and he chose to watch it.

“I didn’t want to do the chemo at all. That’s scary to hear at 20 years old that you might have to go through chemo. I didn’t want that,” he said. “I went back for my first checkup, and it was all clear, then I went back in July, and they told me once again it had come back and was in my lymph nodes and all throughout my stomach.”

Patterson was given the option of having surgery to remove the lymph nodes or to start chemo, so this time he chose to begin chemotherapy, due to the risks associated with having the surgery. He completed nine weeks of the therapy and went back to monitoring himself before finding out at a check-up appointment the cancer had returned, leaving surgery as the only remaining option.

Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND) is a surgery in which the lymph nodes — where testicular cancer typically begins — are surgically removed.

“That was the biggest surgery I’ve ever done,” he says. “Before this, I had broken my wrist, and I think that was about it. … I went through that surgery, and now I am 10 months cancer-free.”

During Patterson’s struggles, he found strength through his family, friends and faith. He had been religious growing up, but says he felt like he fell away from his faith as he continued into high school and college. After the diagnosis, Patterson says he continuously asked God why this was happening to him and doubted God’s plan.

“I was literally in the shower breaking down. God put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was all OK, and it was God’s plan,” Patterson says. “I have no control over it, but it would always work out for the better, and I was in good hands. It’s just another day, and I have to get up and do what I have to do to get through it.”

Patterson’s positive outlook on life partially comes from his mentality of “It’s nothing but a thing,” which he says he has had his entire life. When his friends asked him how he was doing during his experience with cancer, he says he would repeat that phrase to them.

Patterson urges people who have worries to get examined by a doctor.

“Don’t push it off like I did. If you have a pain or anything go get it checked out, because I waited and still luckily caught it early,” Nathan said.

For more information on testicular cancer and how to spot the symptoms, visit The Mayo Clinic’s website.

Hear Nathan tell his story in his own words at the Survivor Stories event Thursday, Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. at One City, presented by Ramsey Branch Retirement Community and Cape Family Medical. Reserve your complimentary ticket at https://2021survivorseries.eventbrite.com, or watch online — no ticket needed — at https://www.facebook.com/semissourian.