Ridge you have a fascination for boo boobs like ghostie but consider ............ testicular cancer and radiotherapy.
ps note the high moral ground wabbitt's cheap comment.
" MARK LATHAM: Towards the end of 1993, I suppose I felt a tingling-type sensation in the area we're talking about. And, um, then several months later, not really worrying too much about it or doing anything about it, I was watching a '7:30 Report'. I remember distinctly lying on the lounge room floor, watching it, and there was a segment on testicular cancer. And it raised the obvious point that men in their 30s, um, this can be a real issue and the lesson is do something about it quickly. I saw a GP the next day and then a week later was on my back in the operating table of Camden Hospital, having the testicle - the cancerous testicle - removed. So, um...I always say that the ABC saved my life.
DR CAROLINE WEST: A lot of men would grapple with issues around fertility or their sense of manhood. Did any issues around those areas come up for you?
MARK LATHAM: Uh, fertility was an issue. Before we did the radiotherapy treatment over at Westmead Hospital, I did some semen samples and they did some testing. Um...I had an issue about slow swimmers anyway, and then there was the worry that in the radiotherapy that, um, you know, if I didn't have the right protection or something went wrong, it could be infertility for life. So for many, many years, I wasn't too sure if I was ever able to be a father. But then, thankfully, um...you know, the great experience of my life - a son was born in November 2000 and then another son in December last year. So, uh, I'm fertile. I've got two great little boys and thankful that all of that has turned out, you know, for much the better in my life.
DR CAROLINE WEST: It's been nine years since Mark Latham took swift action against his testicular cancer and had to deal with the issues of manhood and virility.
MARK LATHAM: I think we need to sort of recognise that, uh, we're not invulnerable, we're not invincible, um...that these things can happen, and the basic message for men is look after your health and when we're talking cancer, take no risks in no part of the body.
DR CAROLINE WEST: Have there been any times in Parliament where anybody's used your testicular cancer against you?
MARK LATHAM: Just the once - when my good friend Tony Abbott was kind enough to point out that I needed hormone replacement therapy to make up for the thing that I'd lost.
TONY ABBOTT: Mr Speaker, plainly this succession of points of order is in deference, Mr Speaker, to the Member for Werriwa's demand that his colleagues have testosterone enhancement therapy... "
