Lucas, 29, was travelling in South America when he found a lump while “in the default relaxed male position”. With a couple of months left of his trip, he put off getting it checked until he got home. That’s when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. While it hadn’t spread and treatment was straightforward, here he shares what he’s learned about getting changes checked quickly.
I was travelling in the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, a very isolated place. I was just relaxing in my hostel bed, with my hand on my nuts and felt something a bit out of the ordinary. I ended up travelling for another one or two months after that and just tried to rule out what it could be in my mind. But when I got home, I went to see my GP to get it checked out. I’m someone who’s relatively comfortable with their body, so it wasn’t too much of a hassle.
If you’re putting off getting it checked because of five, ten seconds of being a little bit embarrassed — it’s very important to overcome that for the greater good.
The diagnosis process
After an ultrasound, my GP referred me to see the surgeon. I actually had a flight booked to China for the Wednesday, and it was Monday. I was thinking I’d just walk in, it’ll be all good, and then I’ll head off on my trip. But the surgeon said, ‘Well, mate, you will not be going to China on Wednesday. You’ll most certainly be having this out ASAP, because anything in that region has a high probability of being cancerous.’ I had my left testicle removed. The surgeon asked me beforehand about a prosthetic — some people get one, it’s completely up to you. I had no interest in getting another one put in. I wasn’t too concerned about the aesthetics of my ball sack. At the end of the day, it is what it is, and it kind of just reminds me of how lucky I am to still be here.
Then your life’s kind of put on hold for a little bit. They send it off for a biopsy and then it’s kind of just a waiting game. I went in to see the surgeon to get the results with my dad. He took me down and we were both very quiet in the car over. We were sitting in the car park of the hospital. I didn’t really say much. And then the surgeon opened up with, ‘Oh mate, it looks like you will be travelling this year after all.’
That was a huge relief. I gave my dad a big hug when I left the hospital, which was nice, and we called my nonna, and she confirmed that all of the prayers she’d been sending off to the Catholic Church had been answered. It was a pretty special moment.
It’s really shifted how I’ve approached life and how I live. You realise that when things like this can come up, how it can all be taken away from you just in an instant.
It’s very important, while you’re fit and healthy, to not wait to do things. Because you never know what’s going to come up.
His advice for others
If you notice anything abnormal, the best-case scenario is you get checked and it’s nothing and you just move on with your life. The longer you put things off, the harder it is, and maybe the more treatment you’ll have to go through to get it sorted.
Just because of the location I was in, I had to put it off. But you do get quite anxious when you don’t know what’s going on. That uncertainty was weighing on me for a long time.
If you notice something and something just feels a bit off — think about all the people that you love and depend on you. You’ve got so much life still to live, and it would be such a waste to miss out on so much if you don’t get it checked. It honestly takes five minutes, and then you can find out, put all the anxiety to bed, and just move on with your life.
