5 years after testicular cancer diagnosis, AGDQ’s Keizaron is cancer-free
Five years after a testicular cancer diagnosis left him scrambling for answers, Steven Eisner is officially cancer-free.
“It’s like I had a giant gorilla on me, and now the gorilla is just gone,” Eisner said.
Eisner, known to thousands as Keizaron, is a speedrunner and a frequent face at Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ).
He spoke to the Prevent Cancer Foundation in 2018 about his diagnosis, saying that he noticed an unusual firmness in his right testicle during a self-check. He said the resources from the Foundation meant he was prepared by knowing what to look for and what to do when he noticed a change.
“I’m confident that in five years I will officially declare myself cancer- free,” he told the Foundation at the time.
And five years later, at AGDQ 2024, Keizaron announced that very news during an interview with Heather Mackey, the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Senior Director of Cancer Prevention and Early Detection. His announcement was met with cheers from hundreds of people watching live and tens of thousands streaming online.
Although people with testicles may develop testicular cancer at any age, it is most often seen in young people ages 20-39. Keizaron, who turns 33 this week, recalled the psychological challenge of battling something so serious at such a young age.
Keizaron interviews Heather Mackey, the Prevent Cancer Foundation’s Senior Director of Cancer Prevention and Early Detection, at AGDQ 2024.
“There’s so many people that were in the waiting room…that were 60 [years old], something like that, and they would look at me, and I could see like the pity in their looks and obviously they didn’t mean anything negative from it, but it was just kind of like, I felt so young compared to everyone else that was there,” he said.
“It was also just in general like kind of a wake-up call of, ‘Hey, this could happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re 10 years old or 100 years old.’”
Eisner wants his good news to serve as an example to everyone of a positive outcome that can result from routine cancer screenings and detecting cancer in its earliest stages.
“They might just be terrified because hearing the news, ‘you have cancer’—those are three words you never want to hear in the same sentence. A lot of people just don’t do what they need to do because they’re scared. My advice would be, don’t be scared. Don’t worry about how you might come across. Don’t worry about looking weak or anything like that. You’re stronger for knowing that you are a human who was vulnerable to a terrible disease and you’re taking the effort to make sure that you go through every step to prevent it. And if you do have it, [you’re taking] every step to get past it.”
Now that Keizaron is cancer-free, he sees things a little differently.
“I’ve learned to live life a lot more than before,” he said. “Whether it’s something as innocuous as, ‘I’m going to go ahead and try this roller coaster I was terrified of,’ it kind of just makes me appreciate the fact that I’m still here.”
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To learn more about testicular cancer, signs and symptoms, and information on screenings and self-checks, click below.