Just before Christmas in 2007 my little brother Nicholas came home from University, aged just 20 years of age, and informed our family that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. I am sure you can imagine this was a massive shock for us all, I remember thinking things like this don't happen to normal families. How wrong I was. The gravitas of what was to come soon hit us when we realised what Nicholas was going to have to go through both emotionally and physically and how his diagnosis was going to change not only his life, but our family life forever.

Nicholas had his operation just before Christmas by a surgeon called Tim Christmas. Thankfully the cancer had not spread to other parts of his body. Testicular cancer is one of the most aggressive fast spreading cancers a man can suffer from. We were extremely lucky that Nicholas had the courage to go and get a lump checked at the doctors. Had he not done so, it may have been a very different story.

Orchid, the charity that raises money for testicular cancer, not only raise money to help with research into the disease, they raise funds to help with awareness. Many men are too embarrassed to go to the doctors to be checked and unfortunately this can cost them their lives.

Christmas is a very emotional time of year for many families and we always give thanks that Nicholas is not only still with us, but that he is well enough to run races with Douglas and I. Despite having to undergo annual checks, which he will have to do for the rest of his life, when he found out that I was running the Reading half marathon he immediately volunteered to "help me train". I am still not sure this wasn't just to make sure I finish the race!

Unfortunately the story isn't always a happy one for many families - we recently discovered that the surgeon, Tim Christmas, who helped to save Nicholas died of an undiagnosed cancer himself.

Please give generously to the charity that really does help to change the lives of so many and donate now.

Thank you

Francesca, Douglas and Nicholas xx

 

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