Visitors share a giant ice cream in the shape of a soccer ball at a swimming pool resort as a celebration of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, in Qingyuan, Guangdong province June 29, 2014. The ice cream, with a diameter of 1 metre (3.3 feet), weighed over 100 k
Visitors share a giant ice cream in the shape of a soccer ball at a swimming pool resort as a celebration of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, in Qingyuan, Guangdong province June 29, 2014. The ice cream, with a diameter of 1 metre (3.3 feet), weighed over 100 kilograms (220 lbs) and was consumed by hundreds of visitors within 20 minutes, according to local media. REUTERS

Biker Lance Armstrong used to be the poster boy of testicular cancer recovery, but his sports scandal has diminished his credibility and effectiveness since stories written about the athlete often focus on his doping problem and stripping of medals and relegate his beating the ailment to a small portion of the article.

Thomas Cantley, a 31-year-old survivor of the same ailment, hopes to create awareness about the disease, sans a controversy, that could perhaps draw the proper attention to the ailment which affects between 7,500 and 8,000 men in the US yearly.

To do that, Cantley is pushing across the US a 6-foot inflatable testicle where people who have seen it could write messages. He began pushing the gigantic balls on Sept 3 in Santa Monica. His Ball Push project will bring him to 11 US cities to meet other survivors of testicular cancer whom he initially met online.

When diagnosed and treated early, men with testicular cancer have an average five-year survival rate of 95 per cent, while those who undergo chemotherapy for cases when the cancer has spread widely have a cure rate of 80 per cent.

That is the main message which Cantley wants to share with men in the 13-to-35 age group. To undergo routine check-ups and when tested positive for the ailment, that they could be part of the Mr Ballsy support group.

"There aren't very many young men advocates that are coming in with a little bit of an edge ... A lot of them are older. I kind of wanted to hit the demographic. I've been doing it for a couple of years, but I realised I need to get out there more," said Cantley who named the giant ball Lefty because it was his left testicles that he lost to the ailment.

When he was diagnosed, the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes, but because of the early detection and treatment, Cantley has been in remission for the past four years.

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