Dad discovers he has cancer after four-year-old son kicks him in the testicles

This Welshman is now an ambassador for men's Movember charity

However, it was when “messing around” with his four-year-old son in the family’s Cardiff garden that Ben found out something terrifying about his health. 

While fooling around, Ben’s son accidentally kicked him in the testicles, but it may have actually saved his life. 

What caught Ben’s attention was the duration of the pain from the kick, which started to last longer than expected. 

Thinking the pain would eventually ease, he was reluctant to see his GP, but soon sought medical help after a week of his testicle feeling like “a cricket ball”.

"It's one of those fairly typical things that happens to men and you shrug it off and think, 'well, it'll get better'," Ben shared.

"I was in a busy family environment, you know, two small children, there were lots of other things going on."

Ben underwent treatment for testicular cancer and was said to be cancer-free five years later, but different challenges were to come for him and his family.

"I felt like I was fine but after five years my wife said 'I don't think you are fine. I think you need to talk to somebody'.

Ben said his wife started to pick up “on the fact that I was perhaps a bit shorter, a bit more argumentative, less patient with people and just not the same person I was before."

A new report for men’s Movember charity said that one third of Welshmen died before their 75th birthday, calling on the government to develop dedicated plans to support men's mental health. 

After seeking counselling, Ben became an advocate and ambassador to boys and men's mental health in Wales, seeing improvements in his life that could help others.

The Movember report focused on the 7,000 premature deaths that took place in 2024.

One argument that came up was that men are more reluctant to seek medical and mental health support as a reason for why they die younger than women.

The report says that men often die from preventable conditions or those that are likely to benefit from earlier treatment.

Those diseases are said to come in forms of certain cancers, as well as heart, lung and liver diseases caused by drug and alcohol consumption.

Signs and symptoms of testicular cancer to look out for

• Needing to urinate more frequently - particularly at night
• Difficulty starting to urinate, weak flow and it taking a long time
• Blood in urine or semen

Please note that these symptoms could be related to other conditions, but shouldn't be brushed off as a one-off thing and should be a reason to contact your GP.

Social image credit: BBC