The man who survived testicular cancer twice: Who gets PTSD?

A black cabbie and I got talking about road traffic accidents. He told me that, while he was doing “The Knowledge”, he was in two scary accidents. His motorbike landed under a lorry once and he expected to be dead by the time the lorry had moved on, having crushed him. Miraculously, the wheels missed him by inches and he survived. On another occasion he was in a head-on collision and again, was saved by a fluke. I asked him whether he suffered from posttraumatic stress afterwards, as some people find such a close brush with death highly traumatising. His explanation for not suffering adverse effects was, according to him, his “membership of a very exclusive small club in the world”.

He referred to the fact that he had a recurrence of bilateral (in both testes), testicular cancer, and survived. Apparently that is so rare, that it made him feel very grateful and as if he were given “the gift of life”.

Interestingly, this experience could also have been very traumatising. However, it would seem that this man’s resilience came from his interpretation that he survived against the odds, seeing this as very positive, rather than being plagued by the thought that he could have died on several occasions.

Why do some people get PTSD, some of those who develop PTSD survive the condition, and others find it very hard to move on?

We know that about 14% of people worldwide will develop PTSD after a life threatening experience or an experience affecting their physical integrity. This may be rape or sexual abuse, being in a war zone, losing a limb in an accident, being in an accident that we perceive as life threatening or anticipating that a child or loved one may die or actually does die traumatically.

It would seem that people who have experience of coping with a traumatic experience despite the distress it caused, individuals that do not have many childhood experiences of trauma, and those people that can move on from the experience, finding something positive about it, are more likely not to develop PTSD.

However, sometimes traumatic experiences accumulate until the “last straw breaks the camel’s back”. This means that anybody can develop PTSD.

Apart from receiving evidence based treatment from a suitably qualified clinician, it is also helpful to learn strategies to manage one’s feelings, to remain active, not to “self medicate” with alcohol  and/or drugs and  most importantly, to look towards the future even if the present seems too painful to handle. And to believe that one can get over it.

It is possible to receive the “gift of life” again.

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