Letter: Danger for men

Sir: It is all very well trying to find the cause of testicular cancer ("The serial killer still among us", 23 June) but the real problem surrounding the disease is awareness. No one has worked specifically on men's health at the Health Education Authority for at least two years because they are not being given money by the Department of Health. Nor is it being addressed by the Department of Education. Testicular cancer is a young, white man's disease. Yet the issue is not formally discussed at university level. In schools, testicular cancer is not part of sex education or biology classes. I saw my first testicular cancer awareness poster in the toilet of a hospital in Leeds as I was about to be hooked up for my first chemotherapy session. Although TC affects a fraction of the people that are killed every year by breast cancer and its cure rate is exceptional, it is the social stigma, the helplessness, the feeling that your manhood has been compromised that makes it just as difficult to deal with, if not more so. If young men were able to identify the disease early they could avoid the angst of chemotherapy and months of uncertainty.

JAMES ASHTON

Golders Manor Drive

London NW1