He has a mission to raise cancer awareness
By ABARMBRUSTER; ABBY ARMBRUSTER | |
Proquest LLC |
At only 27 years old, Sulin received a diagnosis of non-seminoma embyronal testicular cancer, which has taken a toll on his body and now his bank account.
"My doctors said, '(There's) nothing that you personally could have done to prevent this,'" said Sulin, who has no cancer in his family history. "It's basically the bad luck draw of your family genes. That's primarily where it comes from."
As a part-time officer for
Sulin said his left testicle had been irritated for a week or two, but once he found a lump, he knew immediately he needed to see a doctor.
"And that's when I said, 'this is the last straw,'" he said. "So I went the day after."
After undergoing surgery to remove his left testicle, Sulin was unable to work for one month.
"I've always had money coming in and it's a scary thing (when that goes away)," he said, adding he has been working since he was 15.
Since Sulin is younger than the average cancer patient, he hopes to help other men realize how important it is to self-check to catch any danger at the earliest stage.
"I feel like the information of testicular cancer is today like (how) breast cancer was 10 years ago," he said. "The information is kind of out there, but it's really not. If more people talk about it, they can get over their insecurity of talking about it. If it's going to save someone's life, then there shouldn't be an insecurity."
Sulin said he feels fortunate that getting the cancer happened when he was strong enough to fight back.
"I'm lucky because I'm younger and I'm healthy and I can fight this off," Sulin said. "If this would have happened to me at 60 years old ... I guess I'm counting my blessings and thanking God that this happened when I am strong."
To help lighten Sulin's financial burden, his older brother set up a GoFundMe account for friends, relatives or strangers to donate money.
"When Joe was diagnosed, I told him, 'I took care of it,'"
In addition to the GoFundMe page,
"The diagnosis has come as a shock and devastating news for our entire family,"
Joseph Sulin said he is happy to use his own life's situation to impact others, and hopefully save just one other person.
"It's not all about the donations. I want to get my story out there because this is something that you are seeing in younger males all the time, and there's really not that much information out there," he said. "It's kind of a scary thing. You're a young male, you don't expect a thing like this, and it has nothing to do with (how healthy you are)."
Although the source of the cancer has been removed, a recent CT scan showed there could be spots of cancer in his lung, which would move his cancer from Stage 1 to Stage 3.
There is no guarantee the spots are cancer, but another CT scan will be done in August to hopefully prove the doctors wrong, Joseph Sulin said. Even if there is a clean diagnosis, due to the severe and aggressive nature of his cancer, he has to have a CT scan done every three months for the next five years, which costs about
"It's been a life-changing event," he said. "Now that I feel like I'm on the other end of it, and I feel like I beat it, and it's not that I'm grateful that I had it but it changed my perspective on life and what really matters. I don't let the little things bother me anymore."
To donate to Joseph Sulin, search his name on GoFundMe's website, or stop by a
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