My Birthday, Cancer, and 03-04 Exquisite

**Mr.Gem.Mint** · 11-14-2014, 01:09 AM

***RE POST FROM THE BO FORUMS BUT I JUST WANTED TO SPREAD MORE AWARENESS***

I'll try and make this as short as possible. Last year on October 27th i was diagnosed with testicular cancer, had surgery on the 28th, started chemo in November and finished chemo on April 2nd. (4 hours a day 5 days a week) As of today I have been in remission for a couple of months and things are starting to slowly get back to normal.

Today is my 28th birthday (November 8th). Last year i spent Halloween, my birthday, thanksgiving, Christmas, New years and pretty much every day in between in the hospital. It sucked terribly but it saved my life!

Ever since 03-04 exquisite came out i was a huge fan. Im the kinda guy that never buys anything for myself but i decided that when i got out of the hospital and feeling better that i was gunna go after the 03-04 UD Exquisite Base Gold/25 set. I wanted something to shoot for that was doable and long term. I am roughly 10 cards into the 42 card set as of today. I had a few more but medical bills made me sell a few. Luckily i can now focus on picking them up and not selling any. So if you, or anyone you know has any gold/25 or patches/10 available please let me know!

Lastly, i know this is a dominantly male forum so i wanted to share my story. I have been an athlete since i can remember. I have high jumped all over the country and in college. I also played basketball at a D1 college and even made an appearance in the NCAA tournament! Needless to say, i was in VERY good shape.

I wanted to point this out because even through all of that being in great shape and physically strong, you never know where life is going to take you. Never in my wildest dreams would i think that i would develop testicular cancer at 26.

So my plea to you guys is that to please just check yourself and even if you have the slightest inkling that something may be wrong go get checked out. It can happen to literally anyone and the sooner its detected the better. Mine was caught VERY early so my survival rate was high but if i had put off the tinges of pain i was having it could have spread to my stomach, lymph nodes, or any other part of my body. So please check yourself and know that it is definitely not a death sentence if something ends up being wrong.

Anyways, that was longer than i expected it to be but sometimes a little does of real life is needed. Thanks for listening and please help me with my chase if you can!!!

Aaron