Testicular cancer sign and symptom

Beating cancer tops Christmas list

Robert "Rob" Templin III is ready for the old worries.

Worries like making enough tips for rent and snowboarding.

Not worries about blood counts and tumor markers.

The 23-year-old waiter at Jose Muldoon's downtown was diagnosed with testicular cancer in July.

The 1999 Palmer High School graduate went to the emergency room with excruciating back pain, an occasional symptom of the cancer.

A more common sign, a lump in his testicle, had been misdiagnosed as an infection four months earlier.

Templin figured he'd be sent home with some pills and be cured in time to go camping. Instead, he learned malignant tumors had spread throughout his body.

"The cancer was in my liver, lungs and my brain," Templin said.

"I never thought of something like this coming along, especially at this age. I'd have thought that I would have broken my neck falling off of a rock while camping before this would have happened."

Dr. Daniel Tell, a medical oncologist, said the cancer often strikes men 18 to 24. Among those afflicted was six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

"Testicular cancer is pretty rare," Tell said. "There are about 4,000 to 5,000 cases of it every year. It is generally curable."

Templin's case, however, was advanced.

He spent a week in the hospital after the diagnosis, then had months of outpatient highdose chemotherapy.

Next month, he'll get a bone marrow transplant in Denver.

"It is unusual to recommend a bone marrow transplant because it is usually not necessary for testicular cancer," Tell said. "Rob had a lot of cancer."

He puts the survival odds at 50/50 but said Templin has a lot going for him.

"He has a great attitude," Tell said. "It makes all the difference in the world. Patients with a good attitude have fewer side effects. They learn how to deal with it."

The ordeal tested Templin's optimism.

"It has been rough. It has been life-changing. I am the type of person who gets impatient at a stoplight," he said.

"It started out with all the pain of the cancer. As the cancer gets killed, you got the nausea from the chemo.

"It's like having the worst flu ever. You can't keep anything down. Not to sound morbid, but it gets to the point where you wish you would just die. It would be easier to be dead. It's hard to explain. I am still trying to come to grips with it.

"They always say, 'Keep it up, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.' But you don't believe it."

Templin had to stop working and playing guitar in a band, Free Beer. His parents, Chris Beyer and Robert Templin Jr., stepped in to help their only child get to doctor appointments and treatments.

Spencer's Lawn & Garden Center, 1430 S. Tejon St., where Templin worked in high school, held fund-raisers to help with living expenses and to buy Templin a snowboarding pass, in case he recovers this winter.

"Everyone would come in and go, 'I remember Rob from a long time ago,'" said co-owner Mike Spencer, who shaved his head in a show of support.

The shop sells yellow Armstrong "LIVESTRONG" bracelets to raise money on Templin's behalf.

"A lot of people have stuck by me, that's 90 percent what got me through," Templin said.

"I said, 'I'm beating this.' I've still yet to do so much I want to do.

"I want to be cancer-free for Christmas. I want to be with my family, with my friends. I want to be ready for camping season next year."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0253 or abrown@gazette.com