Swimmer Eric Shanteau faces the decision of a lifetime, should he continue to compete in the Olympics or under go surgery for testicular cancer which was recently discovered.

“I was sort of like, ‘This isn’t real. There’s no way this is happening to me right now,” Shanteau said by telephone. “You’re trying to get ready for the Olympics, and you just get this huge bomb dropped on you.”

The cancer is extremely rare and is the same type which Lance Armstrong overcame.