Testicular cancer thriver sends message through trail snack

Photo: Jon Carter.

It wasn’t yet light, the air crisp and sounds of ski-touring bindings snapping against boots, filling air between two camper trucks. Canadian mountain summits loomed overhead, outlined in moonlight. The skin track abruptly turned skyward. Fueled by his own trail snack, Jon Carter ascended. He embraces tough things in search of positive outcomes, for himself and others, a defining characteristic that helped him traverse cancer and chemotherapy, emerging with a message.

“I’m a big snacker, especially when I’m out in the backcountry, skiing or trail-running, anything outdoors,” Jon says. He wanted to create something with all the energy characteristics a mountain athlete could desire—and none of the other stuff he always found on the ingredient list of familiar trail food supplements.

During summer 2021, Jon was formulating such a recipe in his truck camper while employed at a grassroots nonprofit. He loved the nutritional aspect of mushrooms; research and experimentation led him to test a combination of Cordyceps and Lion’s Mane. It started out with a gel prototype but had more potential and portability as a bar. It was a promising idea.

But something seemed amiss, which prompted Jon to get himself checked. “I call it Black Monday, November 8, 2021. I got a call from the doctor saying I likely had cancer in my right testicle and needed to come in immediately.” 

Seeking a second opinion, Jon contacted the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, close to where he grew up. With family support and his fiancée, Morgan Parham, at his side, he opted to have the operation performed at Mayo. “Being able to lean into family during that time was so helpful, and I’m so grateful I could,” he says.

It was as if Jon had been skiing a flowing, deep powder run, right off an unimposing cliff rather than a smooth landing, and was sidelined on to an intense timeline delineated by treatments and consultations. Even after surgery, he wasn’t done.

Pathology identified cancer in the tissue but reported it hadn’t spread. Despite the good news, “CT scans came back showing that cancer had spread to lymph nodes in my abdomen and my chest,” Jon says. “It was stage three testicular cancer, the highest stage they grade for it.” Chemotherapy was next; like assessing the avalanche hazard of a large alpine ascent, he painstakingly read through all the potential benefits and precautions, including possible negative repercussions of undergoing treatment. 

“It was still a big shock, feeling like I was pretty fit and active and somewhat healthy at 30 years old, to be told the recommended course of treatment would be chemotherapy,” Jon says, adding that chemo rode on the heels of creating his first bar. Revealing enough, conversations with a specialist gave him insight and justified his interest in mushrooms.

“An integrative medicine oncologist at Mayo even recommended functional mushrooms as one of the few herbs to be taking, as they know that beta-glucans found in them activate your immune system,” Jon recalls. However, chemotherapy doesn’t work that way. “There are different chemo drugs, and one that I took, Etoposide, has a potential side effect of leukemia. Something I’ll have to live with forever.”

Armed with knowledge and a steady diet of powerful mushroom supplements, Jon began the dangerous, lifesaving treatment. Doing nothing was never an option. “I started chemo, and it’s about as bad as you think it is,” he shares. 

Jon might love snacks, but he’s thirsty for knowledge and understanding. Having been with him on countless backcountry adventures, I’ve seen him pore over maps, route history, and avalanche conditions, along with prior, current, and projected weather forecasts.

During Jon’s moments of clarity between chemo infusions, he’d research nutrition to improve his current health and, thus, trail snack prototypes, which is when he discovered a study involving testicular cancer patients and Cordyceps. It detailed promising results in those patients. 

This is when the irony struck. Cordyceps, one way or another, had been on his radar for its health benefits. Jon recalls telling himself, “I need to pursue this energy bar when I’m finished with chemo. I need to use it as an avenue to help raise awareness around this disease and introduce mushrooms to others. It became a calling.”

Jon still scans for cancer, enduring side effects like tinnitus, bad circulation in his hands, and neuropathy. “Eating healthy and finding alternative options for symptoms that have no cure is all I can do.”

As the sun rose in the Canadian Rockies, I watched Jon outpace us all. I could say he was fueled by the fruits of his labor. He packed the bar recipe into a ball and called the company ODD BALLS, which, he tells me, “is both the product and call to action in shape and name.” They’re infused with functional mushrooms promoting clarity, better health, and regeneration.

Right on the package of ODD BALLS, a skiing, winking mushroom jumps out in a spread eagle. On the back of it reads, “They’re a symbol of resilience, a reminder to check for odd balls, bumps, or lumps. And with our One Ball Initiative, your purchase supports young adults impacted by cancer.”