"GO AND GET IT CHECKED!" Greg Rutherford urges men to check their testicles

Olympic athlete, Strictly Come Dancing Star and local family man Greg is encouraging men to check their testicles for lumps, after he reveals he ignored his.

Greg, who lives in Woburn Sands, revealed in his latest Instagram post that his "mental health took a bit of a beating" during lockdown after discovering a lump on his testicles. 

The 33 year old openly writes that "fear set in" and after trying to ignore it and creating distractions he had the lump checked and was told he has cysts - a fluid build up.

Greg is now encouraging other men to "Keep checking and if you find something, take it seriously."

According to the NHS, Cancer of the testicle is one of the less common cancers, and tends to mostly affect men between 15 and 49 years of age.

Typical symptoms are a painless swelling or lump in 1 of the testicles, or any change in shape or texture of the testicles.

The NHS website suggests that it is important to be aware of what feels normal for you. Get to know your body and see a GP if you notice any changes.

Read more about the look and feel of normal testicles, the symptoms of testicular cancer and diagnosing testicular cancer.

 

 

 

 

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I’m a lucky man. I have a beautiful, loving family and have enjoyed years of success in a sport I loved. I’ve always felt somewhat invincible physically... but during lockdown that invincibility took a massive knock. While we were all cooped up in our homes doing our best to steady the horrible scenario that covid had created, to put it bluntly, I found a lump on one of my balls. Rather than accept it was there, I ignored it and created distractions like training again and using my physical strength to overpower the unknown. Obviously that didn’t work and my mental health took a bit of a beating when fear set it. I didn’t tell Susie or anyone close to me until the physical pain and worry got the better of me, then I reached out to a friend (@rousseau) who’d suffered badly with testicular cancer. He said what I already knew... GO AND GET IT CHECKED! After an appointment, bloods and a scan I was told it was cysts! BLOODY CYSTS. But most importantly nothing to seriously worry about. I don’t think I’ve felt relief like it. I’m just here asking everyone to check. Even now, during a pandemic, when I think it’s safe to say we’re fearful of wasting doctors and nurses time. If you’re a bloke, grab them and make sure nothings wrong. And if your partner won’t check their own balls, maybe offer to do it for them. I feel incredibly grateful I can say it’s nothing serious, but I’ve also realised that while worrying’s a natural response, it solves nothing. Keep checking and if you find something, take it seriously. @su2cuk

A post shared by Greg Rutherford (@gregjrutherford) on Aug 13, 2020 at 1:14pm PDT