We are extremely please to announce that the legends Ali, Astro and Mickey for UB40 have agreed to join us as ambassadors and help us raise awareness of male cancer and much needed funds.

They announced today……

“We are absolutely delighted and honoured to announce that we, Ali, Astro & Mickey from UB40 are to become ambassadors of the incredible charity Balls to Cancer. We have all been affected by having people we love battle with the devastating disease and want to work with this fantastic charity in raising awareness, particularly in men, and helping raise money towards research to find cures.

Check out what they are all about here www.ballstocancer.com and listen out for projects that we will be working with them on”

A 64-year-old cancer patient has received the first penis transplant in the U.S. and is recovering well from the delicate surgery, doctors said Monday

Thomas Manning of Halifax, Massachusetts, underwent the 15-hour procedure last week at Massachusetts General Hospital. The organ was taken from a dead donor.

Surgeons on the transplant team said at a news conference that there are no signs of rejection or infection and that they are cautiously optimistic Manning will regain the function he lost in 2012 when cancer led to an amputation of the penis.

“He was up and out of bed this morning,” said Dr. Curtis Cetrulo, who was among the lead surgeons on a team of more than 50 that worked on the procedure. “He’s handling it very well.”

Manning, who is not married, told The New York Times that the amputation had made new relationships impossible and that he hopes to have a love life again. The newspaper first reported the transplant.

Manning did not appear at the news conference but said in a statement: “Today I begin a new chapter filled with personal hope and hope for others who have suffered genital injuries. In sharing this success with all of you, it is my hope we can usher in a bright future for this type of transplantation.”

Cetrulo said the surgery had three key aims: ensuring the transplanted penis looks natural, is capable of normal urination and eventually can achieve normal sexual function. Reproduction won’t be possible, however, he said, since Manning did not receive new testes.

Most of Manning’s penis was removed after penile cancer was discovered following a work-related accident in 2012.

The New England Organ Bank said that the donor’s family wishes to remain anonymous and is praying for Manning’s speedy recovery.

Dr. Dicken Ko, who directs the hospital’s urology program, said that the focus of future such operations is, for now, on cancer and trauma patients but that operations on transgender people are possible.

“We have a lot to learn from this procedure before we can make that kind of leap,” he said.

Cetrulo said there is demand for such transplants from seriously injured soldiers returning from the fighting in the Middle East, where roadside bombs have inflicted devastating wounds.

“This could be life-saving,” he said. “These patients are very depressed. They don’t have much hope for intimacy and they sacrificed so much for this country.”

Cetrulo said there are no immediate plans for another penis transplant.

It took three years of preparation, including operations on cadavers, before the team was ready to perform this operation.

The world’s first penis transplant was performed at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa in 2014. That patient had his penis amputated three years earlier after complications from a circumcision performed in his late teens.

The university near Cape Town said in announcing the transplant in 2015 that the unidentified, 21-year-old patient made a full recovery and regained all function in the transplanted organ.

A man in China received a penis transplant in 2005. That operation also appeared to be successful, but doctors said the man asked them to remove his new penis two weeks later because he and his wife were having psychological problems.

Source Fox 5 News

As a part of our continued Male cancer awareness campaign we are offering our fantastic wrap around captains armband free of charge to any and every adult football team in the UK willing to wear it week in week out to help us.

If you and your team are willing to help us and the 200,000 men diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK then please email us at contact@ballstocancer.com

Lets show the men fighting cancer that the world of football that Balls to cancer and our supporters are here to help.

A new type of drug could benefit men with aggressive prostate cancer that is no longer responding to treatment, researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research have said.

In a study on mice, Hsp90 inhibitors were found to strip cancer cells of defences against hormone treatments.

Also, recent researches have proven that CBDA products which can be found on cannabis actually defeat cancer cells and helps with chronic pain and makes chemotherapy easier.

This makes the drugs particularly promising for treating drug-resistant cancers, the research team said.  So many people in Orlando battle challenging alcohol and drug habits. Orlando saw more than 400 deaths from the abuse of prescription drugs in the year 2016 alone. Close to 100 people in the city lost their lives to the abuse of the anxiety drug alprazolam, and more than 60 people gave up their lives because of abuse of oxycodone. If you feel that you may be addicted to drugs or alcohol, and are concerned about what you do, the expertise of a team of rehab professionals can potentially save your life.  Medical treatment for addiction to drugs or alcohol is effective. Trained professionals put you through medical detox, which helps you safely emerge from withdrawal, and then offer you comprehensive treatment to make sure that you don’t relapse and go back to the habit that you’ve escaped.  Not only does such a plan offer you treatment for the specific drug(s) that you are addicted to (rather than a generic treatment plan), it pays attention to the specifics of your particular addiction, as well. For example, if you wish to seek treatment for long-term alcohol addiction, you may receive pharmacotherapy with the help of medications such as naltrexone for a few months, and you may follow it up with therapy and counseling. Such a treatment plan has a far greater chance of successfully getting you off addiction in the long-term. Legacy Healing Orlando FL offers some of the best rehabs in the country. Not only do the treatments that you receive include medical detoxification that safely sees you through the initial, difficult phase of drug withdrawal, but they also help you deal with the even more challenging part that follows, as well: the long-term cravings, and the mental conditions such as depression or anxiety that you may suffer from. When mental disorders co-occur with addiction, these conditions are known as dual-diagnosis conditions. People who suffer from dual-diagnosis conditions tend to have an especially challenging time staying free of addiction. They need help from teams of professionals with specific training. When you ask the question, “What is rehab like (alcohol & drugs)?”, the answer is this: you get a professional treatment that addresses every part of your addiction. It is the multifaceted treatment of this kind alone that helps you emerge free of addiction in the long-term.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.

About one in eight men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives. It mainly affects men over the age of 50.

The cancer can sometimes be treated successfully with hormone treatments, which target androgen receptors linked to the growth of male hormones called androgens.

But some prostate cancers don’t work that way. Instead they create an abnormal form of androgen receptor which is not linked to the growth of hormones and therefore does not respond to standard hormone treatment. For more information, then you can refer https://liverevital.com site.

This is the most common form of resistance in prostate cancer which leads to aggressive, difficult-to-treat cancers.

‘Network drugs’

The latest research, published in the journal Cancer Research, found that a new class of drugs reduced production of both receptors.

Professor Paul Workman, study author and chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research, said it was an exciting discovery.

“We call Hsp90 inhibitors ‘network drugs’ because they tackle several of the signals that are hijacked in cancer all at once, across a network rather than just a single signalling pathway.

“These drugs can hit cancer harder than those targeting only one protein, and look promising for preventing or overcoming drug resistance.”

Prof Workman said the next step was to test the Hsp90 inhibitors in clinical trials on patients with aggressive, drug-resistant prostate cancer.

Prof Johann de Bono, a professor of experimental cancer medicine at the Institute of Cancer Research, said: “These drugs are already in clinical trials for several types of cancer, and I am excited that our work suggests they could also benefit men with prostate cancer who have otherwise run out of treatment options.”

Source BBC

On the 25th September we are inviting you to join us at the historic Dudley Castle and be one of the few people to abseil down the castle.

We are asking all participants to make a deposit for your place of £10 and then you will need to raise a minimum of £100 in sponsorship.

Each participant can bring a maximum of four spectators who will be allowed in to the Zoo at a reduced cost of £8 (as will the abseiler)

So get signed up and ready for one brilliant day!

We are very pleased to announce that our fantastic ambassador Karen Danczuk has signed up to run the London Marathon for us!

Karen has set up her own Justgiving page here

I hope you will all join us in supporting her through the race (her number is 23997) and make a donation !

We also incorrectly tweeted that she would be running the Manchester Marathon and Great North run, that was an error on our part

One of the most troubling things we here on a daily basis from cancer fighters is the lack of support from their local council, landlords or neighbours.

So it is our intention to set up a register of “BTC Good Samaritans”  across the country that are willing to offer help and support to your local cancer fighters in the name of Balls to Cancer.

Can you help someone in your area? You don’t have to give up hour after hour of your free time, but help when you can and if you can.

We need people from all over the country that are willing to do anything from simply ringing someone just to check they are OK, popping in for a coffee and helping clean up, help with shopping, gardening, even help them find people to get them to and from hospital appointments.

Are you a builder, electrician, plumber? can you offers your help? So many of our fighters have housing problems that they just cant fix themselves.

So PLEASE help us help the nations cancer fighters who are suffering in silence! Lets give them the support they need !

Email Contact@Ballstocancer.com giving us your contact details address and if you have any specific areas of expertise you can offer.

Thank you in advance from #TeamBTC

Today we launch our #PutASockOnIt campaign to highlight Male Cancer Awareness.

We want to flood Facebook, Twitter & Instagram with #PutASockOnIt pictures, so men please be brave and make a stand for Men worldwide today.

So please do your #PutASockOnIt pictures and facebook, twitter & Instagram them tagging @ballstocancer and using the #PutASockOnIt hashtag

Like our ambassador Wayne Lineker & Charity friend Calum Best

It’s ok to be scared about cancer

It really is normal to be scared about cancer. I was and I still am despite 2 encounters. Here’s what happened to me

1. Quite by chance I noticed a lump in my throat in the bathroom mirror while checking my teeth. I thought my Adam’s Apple had moved as it wasn’t central. Eventually I was sent for tests and was told that I had 2 goiters (or lumps) in my thyroid. I had no idea what that meant and so eventually looked on the internet. Bloody hell – this could be serious. After 18m of ultrasound scans and needle biopsies I was told the lumps had increased in size and it was recommended that I have the entire thyroid out. This was arranged quickly and, as they still didn’t know if it was cancer or not, bits of the thyroid were sent away for analysis. It was a hell of a surprise to be told a few weeks later that there were cancerous cells present and I then had a weekend in hospital having radium ablation treatment to kill off any remnants. All quite unpleasant and I now have to take levothyroxine every day which carries out the function of the thyroid. All in all a great concern as I’d spent 18m being told all tests were “inconclusive” – but it turned out it was cancer.

Two years of uncertainty, a fairly big operation and a weekend in hospital – yes I was bloody scared. Now I have a check every 6 months and 5 years later I’m still free of cancer in the head and neck area.

All very unpleasant and I was scared – but kept thinking about the alternative. The alternative is much worse. So, to anyone in the same situation, it’s ok to be scared – but it’s something which must be done and can be done; and it’s not painful. Also, you get a scar on your neck which is also a topic of conversation (until it fades after a year or so) and you can make up some great Frankenstein stories !!

2. Lying in the bath and, thanks to Balls to Cancer, I was having a “fumble”, and ……………what the hell is that ?? There’s something there in my scrotum which shouldn’t be there. What is that? It’s a swelling which shouldn’t be there and hasn’t been there before. Testicular cancer ???  I check the internet – it can’t be as at 62 years old I’m too old. A benefit of being 60+ at last. So self diagnosis led me to think it was varicoceles. Phew

I went to see my GP and he agreed, but to be sure sent me for an ultrasound scan. This showed it was not varicoceles so now I’m worried again. The radiologist said it might be a hernia and so I get to see a consultant urologist. He isn’t sure at all so I have another ultrasound scan to check kidneys, check for a hernia and check the left testicle again. This time the radiologist says it could be a hernia but she thinks it’s a third testicle which could have been in my abdomen for all of my life and has now descended into the scrotum. Now I’m sent for a CT scan and there’s going to be a case conference to discuss what to do, what it is, what it might be ………. CT scan shows no hernia and so I’m told by the Consultant that it’s best to have a “small” operation to remove the lump and have it tested.

Oh no, not again I thought. Just like with my thyroid they didn’t know what that was, removed it tested it and it was cancer

The operation is planned for a week later which adds to my apprehension – why so urgent ?? It takes place on a Friday afternoon and they remove two lumps and the testicle. Now I wait for the results of the tests they’re going to carry out. As I’m coming round the surgeon visits and tells me he doesn’t think it’s cancer

Ten days later I get a letter to say that the lump was a “benign fatty lump which requires no further investigation or treatment” What a relief. Logic told me it couldn’t have been cancer at my age, but nevertheless I had been very worried.

The incision wound hurts like hell and it’s recommended to take 6 – 8 weeks to recover, but that’s ok as it’s not cancer

So, 2-0 to me

It’s ok to be scared about cancer. I was, and still remain concerned that I might get it again one day. However I have great faith in the Health Service and the skill of the staff.