By Emily Murray

When it comes to the Internet, it’s difficult to separate truth from fiction the majority of the time. A story making headlines today however, shows that sometimes the unbelievable is in fact true.

Imagine, as a man, you are in the bathroom and find your girlfriend’s unused pregnancy test. You think “hmm I wonder what would happen if I tried it.” A few seconds later…you’re pregnant! Well, at least that’s what the test says. What would you think?

If you are like the man in this viral story (who has remained unnamed for the time being), he thought it was pretty funny and actually told a friend who then made a cartoon of the scenario and posted it on the popular bookmarking site Redddit.

Receiving over 1,000 comments is nothing new for many comics or articles, however the message that reverberated through this stream of conversation began to take on a serious tone. Many readers warned the poster that if this was the truth, the man in the comic should go to the oncologist immediately as this may be a sign of testicular cancer. Apparently the friend who posted the article mentioned it to his positive pregnancy test pal and low and behold, the doctor found a small start of a tumor in his testicle.

So how could this come to be? Is this a screening method men should start using?

Well it all comes down to what triggers a positive pregnancy test to begin with. It’s a hormone called beta human chorionic gonadotropin and it is most commonly associated with the development of a placenta. It’s what is found in the blood and urine of women who are pregnant but also can be a sign of testicular cancer in men since the same hormone is released.

Doctors suggest men look for lumps regularly since this is normally the first sign of a developing tumor but it appears there is some validity to the pregnancy test.

Fortunately, no matter how the cancer is first detected, there is a relatively good rate for recovery as long as it is caught early.