"It seems the cure for cancer is just living"

I was diagnosed with testicular cancer about 18 months ago.

After having been advised by a GP that what I had was *not* cancer I lived with it for over 10 years, until a kick-about with the football caught me at an uncomfortable angle and led me to see my new GP.

I was speedily sent for ultrasounds, CT scans, blood tests and the like, and I remember the surgeon's consulting room where I was told it was most likely cancer and needed dealing with.

Surgery and chemo followed in quick succession.

Much of it is now a distant memory, vague at best (perhaps thankfully so), and almost as though it was somebody else going through it.

I know there were times I wanted to scream, or cry, or hide, or all of the above. I was scared to go out on my own, for reasons that still escape me - perhaps a sense of vulnerability. There were times I wanted to be held, and times I wanted to be completely alone.

Easy it is not, but (with a great deal of help from doctors, nurses, and family especially) I did get through it.

Looking back now it seems the cure for cancer is just living.

Medicine can help. Doctors and nurses can do a lot. "Living" is your part of the job, as the patient. Not giving up. Getting out of bed at least once a day. Talking to people, if only to say "hello, nice weather".

I did. You can.