Testicular cancer survivor in Sharjah warns of ignoring signs of ill health

On World Cancer Day, Dhermendra Sharma tells of how he ignored a sore testicle for three months but mentioning it in passing to a doctor may have just save his life.

Dhermendra Sharma has been given a clean bill of health after treatment for testicular cancer. Antonie Robertson / The National

DUBAI // It started with a little discomfort while sitting at his work desk but, like many men, Dhermendra Sharma chose to ignore the signs that something very serious could be wrong with his health.

The 37-year-old waited three months before visiting a doctor for an unrelated problem.

Mentioning the pain in his testes when asked about his general health has probably saved his life.

The project manager, who lives in Sharjah with his wife and young son, is now recounting his close call after recovering from testicular cancer thanks to an operation and life-saving chemotherapy in the hope other men will check themselves if they suspect all may not be well.

February 4 is World Cancer Day, so Mr Sharma thought it timely to tell his story of recovery.

“I first noticed some discomfort in October 2015,” he said. “It was pain but something I could live with so ignored it. One of my testes was hard, so I thought something may be wrong. I waited three months before finally going to see a doctor.”

Mr Sharma, an oil and gas project manager, was referred to a urologist for tests that proved inconclusive. He returned to India to see the family doctor who told him he had cancer.

“The first thing I asked was how long do I have to live. Then the doctor explained there was treatment and I had a good chance of surviving,” he said.

“I tried to carry on with work to keep my mind busy. When I started chemotherapy, the first days were OK, then it was very difficult.

“I had four cycles. I was vomiting, and everything tasted bad, even water had a metallic taste.”

His last chemotherapy session was in May last year, and the tests done since show the treatment has worked with no signs of the cancer.

“It was such a shock to be told I have cancer - there has been no family history and I thought I was a healthy 37-year-old,” he said.

“It shows how important it is to not ignore any signs that something may be wrong.

“It can be frightening to get the test done but it is so important. I am still here for my wife and son, they have been so supportive.”

Mr Sharma had a nonseminomatous germ cell tumour, and was treated at Zulekha Hospital Dubai.

The overall incidence of testicular tumours worldwide ranges from 0.2 to 10.3 cases per 100,000 people.

The classic presentation of a testicular tumour is painless, swollen and hard in an otherwise healthy man in the third or fourth decade of life.

Men are also being encouraged to get checked for colon cancer in the UAE where is occurs on average three years younger than men in the West.

Doctors here recommend men are screened at 40 years, rather than at 50, which is the norm elsewhere.

A cancer unit is due to open in Al Nadha, Dubai, in July to help further with early diagnosis.

The new Zulekha Hospitals facility will include a 100-bed inpatient room, ICU rooms, a modern dialysis service and a sleep lab.

“It has been planned in collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco,” said Taher Shams, managing director of Zulekha Hospitals.

“Among other departments, it’ll feature a Cancer Research and Treatment Centre, sprawled over an area of 215,000 square feet.

“Once completed, the brand new Dh250 million facility will offer comprehensive treatments in radiation oncology with linear accelerators and brachytherapy, medical oncology and nuclear medicine with PET–CT.”