Industry News
Norwegian double Olympic gold medal skier Aksel Lund Svindal, 39, has undergone surgery for testicular cancer. In a social media post, he said the operation was successful and the outlook good.
Svindal won gold in the Super-G at the 2010 Vancouver Games and downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang games. He won five world championship gold medals and retired in 2019.
His full post is below:
The last few weeks have been different. But I’m able to say weeks and not months because of great medical help, a little luck and a good decision. Very grateful for the public healthcare system in Norway. Thank you! But it’s that good first decision that I want to talk about now.Â
I felt a change in my body. I wasn’t sure what it was, or if it was anything at all. But I decided to have it checked out. I went to see a doctor, and was quickly transfered to the hospital where they confirmed what the doctor suspected. Testicle cancer.
Tests, scans and surgery all happened very quickly. And already after the first week I knew the prognoses looked very good. All thanks to that first decision to go see a doctor as soon as I suspected something was off.
Did you know that testicle cancer is the most common type of cancer for men under 50? And that it’s not uncommon that the patients are as young as their early 20s. I didn’t know, but now I do.
What I also know is that men are not great at talking about health issues. And sometimes that’s exactly what you need to do to get knowledge, or to make that good decision to go see a doctor.
If you live in Norway and you have any questions, you should reach out to @kreftforeningen. They’ve got both experienced people and answers to questions you might have. They do a great job. And I’m sure other countries have similar foundations.👍
