Greg Rutherford has revealed that he had a testicular cancer scare during lockdown and has urged men to get checked out if they have any worries.
The Olympic athlete, 33, shared a candid post on Thursday saying he didn’t tell anyone, including his fiancée Susie Verrill, ‘until the physical pain and worry got the better of me’.
After finally reaching out to a pal about his worries, Greg explained how he went to the doctors and got checked out and the lump turned out to be cysts.
Scare: Greg Rutherford has revealed that he had a testicular cancer scare during lockdown and has urged men to get checked out if they have any worries (pictured in 2018)
Sharing his story on Instagram, Greg wrote: ‘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.’
Scary: The father-of-two explained how after he went to the doctors and got checked out and the lump turned out to be a cyst (pictured with his fiancee Susie and two sons Milo and Rex)
The Masterchef 2019 champion went on to explain how ignoring the lump caused his mental health to suffer.
He said: ‘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.’
Finishing up the very candid caption, Greg added: ‘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.
Emotional: Greg said he was ‘incredibly grateful’ and a ‘lucky man’ to be able to say that his scare was nothing serious
‘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.’
Greg is a retired British track and field athlete and is engaged to long-term partner Susie, with the pair sharing their two sons Milo, six, and Rex, two.
The Olympian spent lockdown with his family and was adorably interrupted by his boys while giving an interview on how to keep children busy while in isolation amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Greg appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss how he is managing self-isolation and give tips on how he has kept his kids entertained on Saturday.
However Milo and Rex appeared to have no intention of leaving their dad to get on with the chat, as they hilariously video-bombed the interview.
Viewers at home were left in stitches after watching the ‘relatable’ video, and took to Twitter to express their joy at the light hearted moment.
Greg is not the first celeb to speak out about testicular cancer, with Love Island’s Chris Hughes also urging men to check themselves in January last year.
Just hours before appearing on This Morning, he had revealed that his brother Ben has been diagnosed with cancer. His diagnosis came just weeks after Chris was examined for the condition on live television.
In the UK around 2,300 men are diagnosed with testicular cancer each year. That’s about 1 out of every 100 cancers (one per cent) diagnosed in men, according to Cancer Research UK.
‘Keep checking’: Greg encouraged men to say if they found anything worrying, ‘Even during a pandemic, when I think it’s safe to say we’re fearful of wasting doctors and nurses time’
Family: Greg is a father to his two sons Milo, six, and Rex, two. The boys were seen on TV back in March when they hilariously interrupted their dad’s BBC Breakfast interview
The TV personality – one of five brothers – revealed Ben had originally discovered an unusual lump in his testicles the day after Chris had urged viewers to be examined for the disease during an appearance on This Morning in November 2019.
He explained: ‘He came into my room at 3am the morning after my testicular examination on tv, clearly struggling to sleep, telling me he’d found a lump and asked me if he’s checking it right.
‘To which I told him, ‘Ben, it’s 3am, I’ll look in the morning, but if there’s a lump, go and check it checked tomorrow with the doctor’.
‘Today he sent me a message telling me the news, and thanking me for making him aware, else he’d never have known he had cancer.. That literally broke my heart.’
He added: ‘Testicular cancer is a silent killer, men need realise this and check themselves regularly. It takes 10 seconds. Please do it.’
Support: Chris Hughes urged TV viewers to check their testicles in an emotional video on This Morning hours after revealing his brother has been diagnosed with cancer last January
Devastated: The Love Island star previously won praise after having a testicular check-up live on the show
The reality star revealed a long scar on his own testicle as he spoke about his own shock health scare.
He said: ‘I was diagnosed with two separate conditions, I had operations but there was no long term damage.
‘I was around 14 and I noticed like a build up of veins and eventually got it looked at [six years later, aged 20] and they referred to hospitals and I ended up having three operations on my left testical, and that was more down to safety with infertility, because the veins take oxygen.
‘My sperm count was quite low, I have had a hydrocele. I have had four operations on them.’
Chris previously said that he waited until he was 20 to see a doctor because he felt embarrassed, but he has since realised he needn’t have been.