In September 2023 I set out to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks with family and friends; James, Lucy, and Kieran. Myself and James managed to complete Pen-Y-Ghent and Whernside, but ended up stranded at a camping barn (an event now referred to as #thebarn, we don’t talk about what happened in the barn). This was due to knee joint and balance issues whilst descending Whernside where I was then described as the ‘Whernside Wobbler’. Myself and James then waited in the barn for hours to be rescued by Lucy and Kieran who went on to complete Ingleborough, the whole ordeal from leaving the house and returning lasted roughly 18 hours.

On the days that followed I had a lot of issues with walking as my knees had locked up, and I had decided to try and remedy this by taking a hot bath which is not something I frequently do. Whilst taking the bath I checked my testicles for lumps as I hadn’t done so for a while, and a discovered a hard lump the size of a pea.

Fast forward to November, the appointment for an ultrasound scan came around and I was told to go back to the waiting area at the GP after having the scan. Ten minutes later I was told with 99% certainty that what they had seen from the scan alone was testicular cancer. That same day I was referred to Urology at Pinderfields Hospital and told that I would need surgery to remove the testicle, and three days later the surgery took place.

On the 6th of December 2023, all of my test results came back. Between the discovery in September and removal in November, the tumor had grown to a huge 4cm in diameter. I was given my official diagnosis of stage 1 testicular cancer, and labelled as a young person with cancer under care from St James’ University Hospital at the age of 23.

I am now under remote surveillance for 5 years, and my first results post-operation indicated that the cancer had been successfully caught and removed before it had chance to spread. This means that I have made a full recovery and I am in full remission from the cancer. If this had happened a year prior, I can confidently say I would not have caught it in time as I did not take men’s health checks seriously back then.

After the surgery, I still feared that I had not caught it in time. This led to asking people to not get me any long term gifts for Christmas as ‘it’s not like I can take anything with me’. I also felt that I would no longer have an opportunity to complete the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

I will complete the third peak (Ingleborough) as my activity to raise funds for The Oddballs Foundation as I believe it will bring a positive end to my story, and it will raise awareness to a cancer that can be very curable if it is caught early.

There is an open invitation for anybody who would like to partake in this activity. Specific details on times and location will follow.

The OddBalls Foundation is the UK's leading charity raising awareness of Testicular Cancer.

Testicular Cancer is the most prominent cancer in men aged 15-49, with around 2,400 new cases in the UK every year, that's more than 6 every day. However, if detected early, Testicular Cancer is one of the most curable cancers.

Help us raise awareness of Testicular Cancer to breakdown the stigma, provide people with the correct education, and encourage more men to check themselves on a regular basis, in doing so detect any problems early.