Greg Rutherford urges men to ‘check themselves’ after ignoring lump
Olympic champion Greg Rutherford is urging men to check themselves for testicular cancer after admitting he ignored a lump he discovered during the coronavirus lockdown.
The father of two achieved long jump glory on “Super Saturday” at London 2012, which saw him and fellow Team GB stars Jessica Ennis-Hill annd Mo Farah win gold within just 44 minutes of each other.
In a lengthy post on Instagram, Rutherford opened up about a recent cancer scare, saying that instead of accepting he had found a lump, he “created distractions, like training again”, and used his “physical strength to overpower the unknown”.
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The 33-year-old said: “I’ve always felt somewhat invincible physically, but during lockdown that invincibility took a massive knock.”
Rutherford said his mental health “took a bit of a beating when fear set in”.
He continued: “I didn’t tell Susie (his wife) or anyone close to me until the physical pain and worry got the better of me, then I reached out to a friend who’d suffered badly with testicular cancer.
“He said what I already knew… GO AND GET IT CHECKED!
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
“After an appointment, bloods and a scan, I was told it was cysts! But most importantly nothing to seriously worry about.
“I don’t think I’ve felt relief like it.”
Rutherford is now calling for men to check themselves, saying: “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 nothing’s wrong.
“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.”
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