KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Each year, around 8,000 Americans are diagnosed with testicular cancer.

In March of 2007, one of those diagnoses shook the Tennessee athletic family when it was discovered that All-American hoopster Chris Lofton had the disease.

Lofton left Tennessee as a basketball legend. When it was revealed he played his senior season recovering from his battle with testicular cancer, he left as an inspiration.

"It use to be that a bad game was the end of the road for me," Lofton said in May of 2008, shortly after the news came out that he secretly fought cancer. "When I went thru my cancer and all that I realized that basketball is fun, but it's not that big of a deal. There's people out there suffering a lot more."

For Lofton, his nightmare began in March of 2007. A red flag was raised after a random drug test.

"They told us what would cause this to show up," Frank Lofton, Chris' dad, said. "It was either performance enhancing drugs, a pregnancy, or cancer. We knew he wasn't on drugs, and obviously not pregnant. We pretty much knew (then) what was going on." .

Shortly after that drug test, Lofton was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

"It was so shocking to me," Lofton recently told Sports Overtime. "As a college athlete, you see people being diagnosed with cancer, it's like you never think that could happen to you. When I was diagnosed it was like the worse feeling ever. I couldn't believe it."

Frank Lofton believes there was a reason his son was selected to take the random drug test. "He got picked because God wanted him to get picked...so they would find out what's wrong with him. It could have been somebody else. Chris could have went on and played and the cancer would have spread further and further in his body. He fought it the way he wanted to fight it and he beat it."

The way Lofton wanted to fight it, was privately. He had a secret surgery in late March of 2007. That followed with several weeks of radiation. He entered his senior season weak and still recovering. As a result, his performance on the court wasn't what Vol fans had grown to expect, but only a few people knew about Lofton's fight.

"It was tough guys," said an emotional Frank Lofton, "but that's the way Chris wanted it. That's what we did. We heard things (in the stands). People would just wonder and they would wonder out loud."

Today, Chris Lofton is cancer free, but his fight lives on. OUTLIVE was founded in his honor, a program that raises money for cancer related causes.

"It's an honor to have my name a part of it and to be linked with Tennessee and the fight for cancer, there's a lot of cancer patients out there. We want them to stay positive."

Tennessee hosts Kentucky Saturday at noon. The university has declared the contest the "OUTLIVE" game.

The game will be televised on WVLT and CBS.