I was on a family vacation when I noticed an embarrassing sexual symptom (and it is not ED). By the time I saw a doctor, it was almost too late – this is what men should never ignore

When the 47-year-old Tim Weale felt a knotbing pain in his hip, he assumed that it was due to sleeping on the hard earth in a tent with his family.

It was 2023 and Tim, his wife Bridget and their two children, Clancy and Maeve, then six and eight years old respectively, a big item fell out of their family fucket list: a ‘shot of the card’ in Outback Australia.

“Bridget and I, we always had a bit of a passion for outdoor adventure,” Tim says.

‘It was one of our dreams in life that when our children were old enough, we would take them on an outback adventure. It was just as much for them, but also for us. I grew up in the country and spent four and a half years on Lord Howe Island as a boy.

“There were no rules, we didn’t wear shoes, all that kind of thing. Even though our children grew up in the inland west SydneyWe just wanted to give them a bit of that exposure in their youth, at an age where they could remember. ‘

And so the Weale family left the journey of your life.

“We were in the Kimberly who visited the Mitchell plateau, and to get there it was about 800 km drive on non -closed golf roads,” says Tim.

“So I assumed that it was bumps, combined with being in my mid -forty, I had felt worse for wear.”

Later, while he traveled along the west coast of Australia, Tim’s shoulder started to play.

“I asked Bridget to check if there was a big knot that she could see, but she couldn’t really feel anything,” Tim remembers.

“I went to a physio while we were in Carnarvon, and they did some dry needling, but it never really got better.”

Despite these knotting ailments, there was always an equally adventurous activity to explain the symptoms.

A painful groin in Exmouth? Probably swimming with whales or snorkeling pulled.

Joint pain in his cum? Again, they did so much off-road.

“The pain never lasted too long, and I certainly never thought it could be a sign of something more serious,” says Tim.

But when the family finally returned over the Nullabor and returned to Sydney, Tim discovered a symptom that he could not ignore.

“One morning, not long after I got back, I discovered blood in my ejaculate,” he says.

“And I thought – well that’s not good.”

Tim’s doctor ordered a prostate -specific antigen (PSA) blood test, the first line of research for prostate cancer, but Tim assured that he was not too worried on the basis of his age and lack of family history of the disease.

“The average number for a man my age on a PSA test is usually between one and three,” Tim explains.

“When my results returned, they were 64. The doctor had never seen a result that has come back so high.”

Thinking that there must have been a problem with the test, Tim’s doctor ordered a repeat. This time it came back to 84.

“It was then that he said to me:” Okay, there is a big problem here, “sent me for more tests.

Those tests include an MRI, bone scan, PET scan and a prostate biopsy ‘that consisted of 12 metal bars through your perineum,’ Tim Wry adds.

“Not very nice.”

Even worse: Tests’s barrage confirmed the worst fear of everyone – it was not only prostate cancer, but also stage 4.

“They confirmed that the prostate cancer” had jumped the gate, “as I explain the prostate, and had spread to my hip, my bones, my tail leg, my pubic bone, two places in my spine, two ribs, my scapula, and there were two spots in my lung,” Tim explains.

The veteran, who even remembers the worst day of his life, does this with a twinkle of humor, Sobers when he revives the day he received that news.

“2023 was the year of the absolutely highest of highlights, which was traveling with my family, to the lowest lows, this diagnosis in December, just before Christmas,” he says.

“I would come to terms with my own mortality when I was a much younger man in the army,” he says.

“But as a father I could only think of my wife and children, and also my parents – what their lives would be without me.”

Yet Tim remained determined.

“During the test process I had prepared for any news that would come, but at the same time I knew what it was, I would just touch it,” he remembers.

“I decided we would beat. From the beginning that was definitely my way of thinking. ‘

And takes it to Tim.

Starting with radiation and hormone treatment to reduce his testosterone (which he describes as the ‘food source’ for his cancer), Tim then underwent chemotherapy for five months between January and May last year.

“I worked all the time,” says Tim, “I was determined to retain as much normality as possible.”

After completing Chemo, Tim got the best news he had heard all year round.

“So while my first PSA levels 64 and then 84 were, they had actually continued to rise quickly before treatment,” he says.

“Just before I started chemo, that number came to 154. Once I had finished chemo, once they retested a few months later, that number was 0.010.”

Tim says that the emotional release he felt when hearing the news was like nothing he had experienced.

‘So in essence, the only thing that my cancer stays in my body forever, but the way I describe it is that it sleeps. The last series of scans could not see any growth from the scans pre-chemo to post-chemo, there was no growth in those areas where the cancer had eaten my bones, and the places that were in my lung, one of them had about the size of a piece of 20 cents and they could no longer see it. It was not detectable. ‘

Tim has left his business job at an ASX 100 company to spend time with his children and to concentrate on raising money for cancer research via the Lifehouse Chris O’Brien.

“Instead of collecting funds for shareholders, I collect money for cancer,” Tim jokes, adding that the pace of innovation and research in the field of cancer treatment gives him hope.

“The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and the research they do is just incredible,” he says.

“And research is moving very quickly now. The medicine that I now take day and night, a year ago, was not in the pharmaceutical benefit schedule and it was $ 3,800 a month, “he says.

“Two years ago it was still in tests abroad, and now it is not only the gold standard of treatment, but it is also on the PBS and costs me $ 8 a month.”

In addition to helping to collect funds, Tim is passionate about sharing his story, so that other men in his position do not miss the signs that something is wrong.

“Looking back I still had some symptoms for the trip,” he says.

‘I noticed that when I did an early, I really had to relax at the end and I felt that there was still something to go. I have also noticed some subtle changes in the color and texture of my ejaculate. ‘

According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA), prostate cancer is increasing in young men.

Four hundred three men under the age of 49 are diagnosed every year with prostate cancer in Australia, which represents around 1.58 percent of all newly diagnosed men.

In the past 40 years, the number of men who was diagnosed in their forty has increased by around 2,500 percent, largely because of the arrival of PSA tests and the availability of testing to younger men.

“We recently released new draft guidelines that recommend that men have a baseline PSA test at the age of 40, so that they can follow their PSA levels routinely and identify any worries,” explains PCFA CEO Anne Savage.

‘Early detection is the key to survival – we encourage men to talk to their doctor about checking checking.

‘It is vital for younger men with a higher risk of prostate cancer to start PSA tests from an earlier age.

“Those with a higher risk include men with a direct male family member who is influenced by the disease, or second -degree family members who died of prostate cancer.”

And Tim’s message to Aussie men could not be clearer:

‘If you notice any change, the least change in your body, the type of pains that I have experienced, or even the changes in the consistency and color of your ejaculate, or another feeling when you urinate, check it immediately.

‘Don’t just think it’s normal or go to Dr. Google. Go to your doctor and be tested, especially if you have a family history, “says Tim.

‘But even if you don’t have a family history – just go get a basin [test]”He adds.

‘It’s just a sign of a box on a blood test. And if the doctor says no, she just presses, say that I am the reason why. ‘

In May Tim shares his story in support of the tax application of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, who aims to raise money for crucial biomarker research. You can donate here.