After receiving incorrect diagnoses, English soldier Gavin Brooks, 45, discovered he had penile cancer. The advanced stage of the disease meant that doctors had to amputate part of the limb to remove the tumor. Months later, they discovered that the cancer had spread to other parts of the body and gave the patient one year to live.
“If I had been diagnosed earlier, I could have just had a circumcision that would have avoided the rest of the operations and chemotherapy,” believes Gavin.
Incorrect diagnosis
In an interview with the British newspaper daily mailthe Englishman said that he sought medical attention in 2021, after feeling a ring of skin around the foreskin – the fold that covers the glans of the penis – and noticing an injury to the tip of the organ.
“The skin that connects the foreskin to the penis cracked, bled and caused pain when I peed. I knew this was not normal and that I had to get a checkup,” she recalls.
The first doctor diagnosed the lesion as a genital wart, but Gavin wasn’t convinced and sought other opinions. “I didn’t know how I could have a genital wart as I had been married for 20 years and had only one sexual partner at that time, so I didn’t think they were right,” he says.
The second doctor suggested that the soldier might have male candidiasis and prescribed treatment with an ointment. With no improvement, Gavin sought care at a sexual health clinic, where a dermatologist performed a biopsy and finally came up with the correct result: the soldier had penile cancer.
According to the National Cancer Institute, for each year of the three-year period 2020/2022, around 625,000 cases of the disease will be registered in BrazilScience Photo Library – STEVE GSCHMEISSNER, Getty Images
***photo-person-being-examined-for-suspected-skin-cancerExtremely common in the country, skin cancer is characterized by the appearance of tumors on the skin in the form of spots or spots with irregular shapes. Related to prolonged exposure to the sun, exposure to artificial tanning beds or for hereditary reasons, the disease can be treated through surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.miriam-doerr/istock
***photo-woman-without-blouse-with-symbol-against-breast-cancer-Breast cancer is caused by the uncontrolled multiplication of cells in the breast. Although it is common in women, the disease can also affect men. Among the symptoms of the disease are: pain in the breast region, hardened lump, redness, swelling and bloody discharge. Treatment involves surgery to remove the breast, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images
***photo-person-holding-symbol-representing-the-fight-against-prostate-cancerMore frequent in men, prostate cancer has the following symptoms: blood in the urine, difficulty urinating, the need to urinate several times a day and the delay in starting and finishing urinating. Surgery and radiotherapy are among the treatments for the disease.Getty Images
***photo-woman-holding-throatAlthough it may be related to hyperthyroidism, smoking, changes in sex hormones and diabetes, for example, thyroid cancer is still not well understood by experts. Despite this, treatments against the disease involve hormone therapy, radiotherapy, radioactive iodine and chemotherapy, depending on the case. get images
***special-lung-cancer.jpgLung cancer is one of the types with the highest incidence in Brazil. Related to the use or prolonged exposure to smoking, its main symptoms are shortness of breath, chest pain, recurrent pneumonia, bronchitis, bloody sputum and frequent cough. The disease is treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or/and surgeryBSIP / Getty images
***photo-offering-cigarette-and-other-denyingIn Brazil, squamous squamous cell carcinoma has the highest incidence among stomach cancers. Treatments involve surgery or radiation therapy and chemotherapyiStock
***photo-man-lying-with-part-of-red-trunk.jpgStomach cancer is diagnosed after identifying malignant tumors spread throughout the organ and which may appear as ulcers. Related to infections caused by Helicobacter Pylori, the presence of ulcers and untreated chronic gastritis, for example, the disease can cause vomiting with blood or blood in the stool, frequent belly pain and constant heartburnSmith Collection/Gado/ Getty Images
***Drawing-uterus-with-cancer-outbreaks-in-the-cervixSymptoms of cervical cancer include intermittent vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain related to bowel or urinary complaints, and abnormal vaginal discharge. Treatment involves chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.Science Photo Library/GettyImages
***photo-dentist-appointment-mouth-patientOral cancer is a disease that involves the presence of malignant tumors in the lips, gums, roof of the mouth, tongue, cheeks and bones. It is more common in men over 40 years old and has as symptoms wounds in the oral cavity, spots on the tongue and nodules on the neck, for example. Treatment involves surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.Pexels
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Gavin finally had surgery in January 2022 to remove the tumor. Along with him, surgeons needed to remove part of his penis as well. Frightened by the result, the patient started to call his own penis Frankenweiner. The word is the junction between Frankenstein and sausage, in English.
“They lifted my penis and cut it in half. They took a skin graft from my leg to remake the head of the penis, but it’s just straight, with a hole at the end. When I woke up in the hospital, I was startled by how much had been removed,” he recalls.
New tests showed the cancer had spread and the patient had to undergo another operation in April to remove the lymph nodes in the groin and subsequently undergo treatment with intense chemotherapy.
However, doctors reported that the disease continued to advance, spreading to other areas of the body. They advised that Gavin may only have one year left to live.
The Englishman is the father of two children – Camren, 15, and Jorje, 10 – and spent most of his life in the Army as a physical training instructor. Difficulty walking after cancer treatments meant that he used a wheelchair for most of his day.
Now, Gavin is looking for new treatment options outside of England that could increase his life expectancy. “So I can stay as long as possible,” he says.
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