A different game

Travis knows what it looks like to be built for performance.

He played professional baseball and even made it to the big leagues with the Seattle Mariners. 

These days, the game looks different. He spends long hours building financial plans for athletes.

But Travis learned something from years around elite competitors: Your health isn't separate from your life. It is your life.

The greatest driver of your wealth is your ability to stay healthy and be out on the field.

By 2020, he was taking his own health seriously again. He lost weight and cleaned up his nutrition. By most measures, he felt pretty good.

“The healthiest person”

Before Travis found Function, he had been using another lab testing platform. He didn't love the experience because it felt too automated, too generic. But it pointed him toward something he couldn't ignore.

His male health markers were out of range. Lower Total Testosterone. Lower Free Testosterone. Elevated Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG). 

He brought the results to his primary care doctor.

"He basically told me, 'Yeah, some of those are out of whack, but you're the healthiest person I'm going to see all year.'"

Travis knew he was healthy in a lot of ways. But he also knew those numbers meant something. And being told you're fine when your own data suggests otherwise stayed with him. 

So he kept looking.

‍A pattern he couldn’t ignore

Travis found Function on his own before he knew his company would ever partner with the brand. He had done the research, listened to the podcast of Chief Medical Officer Mark Hyman, M.D., and connected with the idea of proactive, data-driven health.

I loved the approach. It really resonated, the 100 year mentality.

Most of his results looked good. His Biological Age was 37. Not bad for a 41-year-old.

But the same pattern with his hormones remained. 

And the numbers weren’t trending in the right direction.

"In retrospect, it matched the way I was feeling."

He had noticed changes in his motivation, strength, and energy. But things had shifted so slowly that he'd adapted without realizing it. Now he had data that made it impossible to brush off.

He sought out a men's health specialist.  

They tried a few things. But at his follow-up visit, his numbers had moved further in the wrong direction.

The question that changed everything

After reviewing Travis's latest lab results, the men's health doctor asked if there was anything else going on.

Travis mentioned something he hadn't led with before.

His left testicle had changed in size.

The doctor examined him and sent him for imaging that same day. Within a week, Travis had surgery. Pathology confirmed testicular cancer.

I probably would have just kept riding it out until it was too late.

A difficult choice

Travis's cancer was a seminoma, a type of testicular cancer that tends to grow slowly and is less likely to spread to other areas of the body. His oncologist happened to specialize in exactly this type. 

There were two sides of it. There was celebration in the sense that I had validation that what I had seen and felt was actually real. But obviously, the word cancer is terrifying to hear.

After surgery, he was given a choice: opt for regular monitoring with an estimated 1-in-5 chance of recurrence, or complete two rounds of chemotherapy which could reduce that chance to roughly 1 in 50. He chose chemotherapy.

The fatigue hit hard. And he wasn’t someone who liked to sit around and rest. Then the holidays arrived right in the middle of recovery and threw everything off: the workouts, the supplements, the meal discipline he'd spent years building.

"It was probably one of the hardest experiences I've had in a long time."

Growing younger

Travis had to essentially start over.

He rebuilt slowly and then he retested through Function.

One result stopped him.

Before surgery, his Biological Age had climbed to 41.8. After surgery and recovery, it dropped to 33.

It's amazing to see how clearly evidence shows up in your body when something is there compared to when it's not.

It was confirmation that his body had been keeping score the whole time.

Information is power

Now, Travis talks to his professional athletes about health and wealth with a clarity that only comes from experience.

He tells them to stop brushing things off. To find a doctor who will actually work with the data instead of around it. To not be the stubborn guy who waits too long.

You have to be your best advocate. Information is power. The more information you have, the more you're able to bring to the table.

When he thinks about what would have happened without those numbers stacking up, he doesn't let himself linger there long.

"I'd hate to even think what it would be like if I hadn't taken ownership earlier. Who knows where the cancer would be."

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