Can TC be passed from Father to son?

[veryworriedmom]

I dont want to add another "very" to the worried mom name but...son 23 with Tc had undescended testicle as infant, it came down itself. dont know which one, just found out medical records are destroyed after 21 unless seen in the 6 month period before. Have another son 20, according to the article he has 8-10 times more risk of TC due to sibling. He also had 2 hernia repairs at age 11 and 12 which has been mentioned in some of the TC survivors historys. My father died of cancer in the 1960's age 59 of "stomach region" but in those days being young they never discussed it with me so will never know exact diagnosis. All I can do is ask #2 to please check himself regularly, I sent him the article and the link on self check and his response was "dont worry mom I have lots of people at college to help me check for lumps"

[Jay68442]

Interesting question. Well since no one knows the true cause of TC one can assume that there is a possibility that genetics play a role. But on the other side of the coin I am the first and only one in my family to have TC. With all that I have been through if I ever have a boy he will be well educated on the subject and therefore early detection would be in my favor. Should I say his favor. There are so many things I wish to give my children and I hope cancer is not one of them.

[CharlieFL]

Just as genetics and chemicals play a role in the development of many diseases, I believe stress has a role to play in any health condition today. Attitude has a lot to do with shaping how we view the situations that life puts before us. I know it's a far fetched statement and I'm not saying it was the whole cause, but I strongly believe stress contributed to my cancer woes. I can accept family history, pesticides and exposure to carcinogens as theories for causes but I also know stress can be quite the silent killer. Although diabetes and alzheimer's disease are quite prevalent in my family, cancer is virtually non-existent. I've heard the words "testicular cancer" and "epidemic" used in the same sentence by health professionals more than once since my diagnosis. I've got to believe there's more than pure coincidence in the higher incidence of all these cancers and other diseases worldwide.

[Scott]

I also told my mom that if I had been given a choice, I would much rather have been born knowing the possible risk of getting TC, than to have never been born at all.

Well said, Paul. I agree completely.

[Karen]

My mom was a labor and delivery nurse, and back in the day they used to X-ray pregnant women, as Fed mentioned....with the nurse in the room, so the Karen-egg got many a zap. I was born with a displaced hip and had a LOT of pelvic X-rays as that was diagnosed and corrected. I was terrified when I was pregnant that my child would be at risk from all this radiation I been exposed to.

Paul, that was an excellent post and really hammered home all that we 50ish people were exposed to. I pray that we learned enough from all that tomake it better for our kids....but I'm not sure we have.

[Chris'Mom]

Just to add my thoughts to this post...no one that we know of in our family had TC.....but, Chris' great grandfather died in his early forties from what the family lore said was pneumonia after dancing at a wedding and getting overheated and becoming sick..!!!!!????...I still believe he could have had TC...spread to the lungs and no one ever knew...and we probably won't either. Chris' grandmother, my mother died at just 60 from a rare cancer in her uterus....six months from diagnosis...otherwide healthy and always running around...so I do worry about all these connections and how it impacted Chris. Chris also had xrays as a three year for what they thought were a problem in his stomach (come to find out he was holding in and not going to the bathroom) but I am guilty also that they took him in and did x-rays with some dye and now I wonder if they covered him as they should have....guilt is a tough thing for a mom....oh well...live has to be lived going forward...but the questions are always there.Mary Ellen

[Karen]

Interestingly enough I found out after my diagnoses that my older brother had also been diagnosed with TC. I really wish I knew what the makeup of his tumor was (mine was pure Seminoma) but unfortunately after watching both of our parents suffer through cancer treatments and still not make it he elected against treatment for TC. I buried him 3 months before I was diagnosed.

I am so sorry, TLH, for your loss and for how terrified you must have been with your diagnosis after your brother's passing.

[DianeE]

Oh Diane, please don't look back. Nancy and I had a very hard time getting pregnant, to help things along she had to take clomid. When Jason was diagnosed our doc had a huge list of questions one was did you take any infertility drugs.

RToday my life is more full of true living then I could ever express. I fear changing the past because of how it mignt impact my joy today. My life has never been as full or rewarding it is now

Thanks Dadmo. I don't really look back, but have glanced a couple of times!
It's just something that has crawled into my memory and made me wonder.
I can't change what happened in the past and like you, I love the present so much, I don't know if I would change the past, even if I could. We're all healthy and happy and I know I'm more grateful than ever and will never take good health for granted.

Diane

[TCLEFT]

I've given the genetic/heredity angle a lot of thought since my mom (now 82) developed signs of guilt anxiety over my TC, and I come from a very large family where every brother, cousin and nephew are freaking out at this news. My semi-educated opinion is that if this is genetic, it is buried deep in DNA and more likely handed down by being related to Leif Erikson or Genghis Khan than by anything a parent may or may not have done, or have any control over.

I am the oldest of 6 siblings, 4 of whom are guys. I have 14 first cousins, 7 boys. I am the oldest of this crowd. The youngest is just passing 40. Several of these brothers and cousins have boys in their late teens and early 20's.

I am partially color-blind (technically called deficient). I did a statistical analysis of trait for a college genetics project and found that the generation-skipping and probability follow the predicted pattern perfectly. Since then, we've found that high cholesterol throughout the family. However, other than a few random cancer deaths among elders in their 80's and 90's, there is no cancer history whatsoever. In fact, the chances of cholesterol-related problems or deaths via heart disease or stroke are >10 times higher than cancer.

Keep in mind that our little baby boom was conceived during the 1950's and 1960's when we were assaulted by atomic bomb test fall-out, drugs for morning sickness, hundred's of chemicals that have since been banned, imperfect vaccines, polio, first and second hand smoke, and who knows what else. Between sports injuries and bad teeth, we've been x-rayed more than flight attendents' luggage.

I think I finally convinced by mom that my TC was not handed down from her or my dad or grandparents in the usual sense of heredity or an environmental factor or defect. The whole bunch of us brothers and boy cousins sailed through the target age of 15-40 without any cancer, and that includes a lot of really dumb things done onto ourselves, and we're watching our sons like hawks. So far, there is just no pattern. Yes, I understand the relatively small sample size. However, my point is that if there was a genetic connection, my family size and tendency to hand down traits would have given TC plenty of opportunity to manifest itself by now.

I also told my mom that if I had been given a choice, I would much rather have been born knowing the possible risk of getting TC, than to have never been born at all. I truly believe that you parents, most of whom are younger than me, are not the proximal cause and there is absolutely nothing you could have done to prevent your son's TC. Take a breath. Give yourselves a hug.

Paul,
I've gotta say that was the most eloquently put post I've seen in some time, and there are alot here gifted in prose. I'll still worry about my Kids given our Family history, but then, I'll still worry about my kid's given our location. Oh Hell, I'm gonna worry about my kids because thats what Parents do. I'm a Boomer myself and so are my Brothers and Sister 6 to 17 years my senior. My Mom went from a stroke, my Dad Alzheimers. Alzheimers is big in my Family tree. At least I think so, unless I've forgotten someting . Can't wait to meet you in person, have a couple of few beers and pollute the gene pool further, not that we're going to populate that pond anymore.

[dadmo]

Oh Diane, please don't look back. Nancy and I had a very hard time getting pregnant, to help things along she had to take clomid. When Jason was diagnosed our doc had a huge list of questions one was did you take any infertility drugs.

RToday my life is more full of true living then I could ever express. I fear changing the past because of how it mignt impact my joy today. My life has never been as full or rewarding it is now

[Fed]

When he was an infant, about five months old, he had a hip problem and in order to make the correct diagnosis, his pediatrician wanted an x-ray of his hips. There were about four pictures taken and I remember right before the last one was taken, the little lead triangle that was protecting his genitals, fell off. I was about to say something to the radiology tech, but the x-ray was taken before I could. It was the first thing that went through my mind when Brian told me about his TC diagnosis.

Is it possible that is what caused his TC? Fed?

Oh boy, Diane, this hits somewhat close to home. Here's a similar story on my end. I was born in a small border town in Mexico back in 1974. My mom was due on July 3, and the days kept going by, but I wouldn't come out. Her obstetrician decided that if I hadn't come out by July 28 (week 44!), they would induce labor. I didn't, so they decided to induce on July 29; however, prior to inducing, the docs wanted to make sure that I was well-positioned to come out through the birth canal. The doctors decided to X-ray the womb to determine that. I was in position, they induced, and I was born 2 hours later.

Quite frankly, that doesn't give me any comfort because who knows... since TC originates in utero, that could have precipitated the process of me getting it. Then again, it could have been the years I've been exposed to hexanes, chloroform, toluene, and other such solvents while working in the lab. My point is that I have plenty of reasons to speculate how I came to get it, but the speculation will never give me a satisfactory answer.

This is why I encourage all TC patients that if they are offered a spot in a clinical study that they do it. These studies are few and far between because the NCI seldom endorses them (many in the higher echelons of government have chalked up TC on the win column, so such studies are rarely funded), so we need to take advantage of them when they appear. I recently partook in one that covers TC patients from Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was a very thorough study, and I am looking forward to seeing the findings when they are released next year.

While these studies aim to explain the origins of TC, they are hardly solid proof. I don't expect to ever get an answer to why I got it, and speculating won't make me feel any better. The bottom line is that I did, and now my goal is to keep making the best of the situation.

[DianeE]

I have wondered about the genetic angle since my son, Brian, was diagnosed. His paternal grandmother had breast cancer twice, and
my father's mother died of cancer in her late 70's, but those cases
seem too far away to have played a part in Brian's cancer.

There is one thing that has bothered me since Brian was diagnosed. When he was an infant, about five months old, he had a hip problem and in order to make the correct diagnosis, his pediatrician wanted an x-ray of his hips. There were about four pictures taken and I remember right before the last one was taken, the little lead triangle that was protecting his genitals, fell off. I was about to say something to the radiology tech, but the x-ray was taken before I could. It was the first thing that went through my mind when Brian told me about his TC diagnosis.

Is it possible that is what caused his TC? Fed?

Diane

[mstlyn]

Anthonys father died from cancer when Anthony was 8 months old.

We never found out if the cancer started in the testicle or not because he refused to see a doctor, and passed his symptoms off as something else until it reached the lungs and took his life.

I read that some of the symptoms are also similar in prostate cancer too, so my guess is that it began as either or.

He never mentioned anything to me until he started having left upper leg/hip pain.
He just kept taking tylenol for the pain.

Later he was taking huge doses of tylenol, which were doing nothing for him. Then he got one of those bathtub whirlpool spas that rest on the side of the tub. He said it gave some relief for the time he sat in the water.

I know he was concerned about cancer even though he never said it. He kept trying to come up with something else, like polio. He even sounded relieved to think thats what it might be.

Due to some rather personal circumstances, I didnt find out everything the doctor said when he finally went, but he died from metastatic carcinoma/lung.

He died after only 1 year of his symptoms starting.

Whether it was TC or prostate, I have no idea, but Im certain it was one of the two. Anthonys doctor thinks it was prostate because of his age at the time (42), but of course he wouldnt know that for sure.


I should add that his father, which would be Anthonys grandfather, did have prostate cancer too.

[tlh]

I wish there was more research done on the genetic link. I was diagnosed at age 39. Interestingly enough I found out after my diagnoses that my older brother had also been diagnosed with TC. I really wish I knew what the makeup of his tumor was (mine was pure Seminoma) but unfortunately after watching both of our parents suffer through cancer treatments and still not make it he elected against treatment for TC. I buried him 3 months before I was diagnosed.

There may not be any scientific data to conclude a genetic connection yet, but you can believe my two sons pediatricians know about this and will be checking in the future.

TLH

[Scott]

This entire issue of the International Journal of Andrology is dedicated to the Proceedings of the 6th Copenhagen Workshop on Carcinoma in situ Testis and Germ Cell Cancer, 26–28 October 2006.

I'm guessing this is your version of Entertainment Weekly?