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For more information on upcoming shows or for booking information please contact danschneiderman@hotmail.com or info@tctca.org |
Click Here To View Past Events/Photo
News
Ride with Lance Armstrong was held on Saturday June 14th, 2008
View our recent Public Service Announcement. August, 2007: Public health planner Lisa Wenger holds a poster, which is part of an upcoming high school campaign to raise awareness about testicular cancer. Photo by PETER LEE, RECORD STAFF
in Cambridge, Ontario
The following article was written by Brian Burke of 105.3 Kool FM and published in the Waterloo Chronicle. Click here to download a PDF of the article.
July 24, 2007:
Article published in Metro News (www.metronews.ca) discussing Daniel Schneiderman's one man show "My Left Nut" which is helping to raise awareness about the disease. Click here to download a PDF of the article.
March 23, 2007:
Lengthy article in Kitchener/Waterloo Record describing Cheryl Fried's ordeal, facts about Testicular Cancer and an article about the Waterloo Region Health Unit's "Check'em" campaign. Click here to download a PDF of the article.
Fall 2007:
Check'em campaign to be launched in schools.*
BYANNE KELLY RECORD STAFF
When local public health officials asked teenaged boys what they know about testicular cancer, there was a common refrain.
"They didn't think it had anything to do with them," said Carol Millar, a health nurse with Waterloo Region Public Health. "They thought it was an old man's disease."
In fact, these 15- to 18-year-olds are in the highest risk age group for the disease, which is often easily treatable and curable if detected early.
But it's rarely talked about.
That's about to change, after months of research by the health unit on how to reach teenaged boys.
Next fall, the health unit will launch a campaign at Waterloo Region public high schools to educate boys ages 15 and up about the disease and encourage them to do regular self-examination.
It is believed to be the first of its kind in Ontario and was prompted after the health unit was approached by a grieving mother.
Cheryl Fried's son, Adam De Sousa, died of testicular cancer three years ago, while a high school student in Cambridge.
In recent focus groups conducted by health unit staff at two local high schools, boys had basic questions.
"Was testicular cancer something they needed to worry about? How do they check for it? Would they lose a testicle? Would it make them less manly?"
What they wanted in an awareness campaign was a bit of humour and clear messages, free of medical jargon.
"They didn't want to see testicles," added Lisa Wenger, a public health planner with the health unit.
A catchy slogan "Check 'em" was chosen. Posters and brochures were pilot tested with pictures of different kinds of nuts.
The final posters, some featuring peanuts and others, metal nuts, stress that testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males ages 15 to 34.
TWO TO THREE AFFECTED
In an average high school,two to three guys will develop testicular cancer in their lifetime, the posters note.
The campaign involves a one-day visit to each of the public high schools. It's hoped the separate school board may also be interested in future. Posters and brochures will be distributed. Fried will talk about Adam's experience.
And health unit staff will deliver a power-point presentation on the disease and the importance of regular self-examination.
Male and female ambassadors, wearing T-shirts modelled on the posters, will hand out postcards summarizing signs,symptoms and self-exam instructions.
"The messages are 'you need to worry about it, this is what to check for and this is what to do about " said Wenger.
The good news is five-year survival rates for testicular cancer are 96 per cent, according to Cancer Care Ontario.
Wenger said the Check'Em slogan was adapted from a Toronto Planned Parenthood campaign called Check your Nuts, which urged men to have regular health examinations.
In the pilot testing phase, local teens said they were interested in hearing from someone who lost a son or a partner to the disease.
Shortly after Adam died, his mother approached a public health nurse at his school, Southwood Secondary in Cambridge, about the need for testicular cancer awareness in the schools.
But Fried only recently felt ready to share Adam's experience with students, something he had hoped to do himself.
Her participation "is an amazing opportunity to put a human face on the disease," said Miller.
Fried also hopes to find a young survivor to join the campaign. "Then we can show the best case scenario and the worst case scenario," she said.
akelly@therecord.com *Reprinted of article from Kitchener Record, Friday, March 23, 2007.
Click here to download pdf of complete article.
© 2007 The Canadian Testicular Cancer Association • 519-342-2562 •
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