A young cancer survivor has urged young men to check their testicles regularly and to immediately consult their GP if there is any sign of swelling.
Daniel Spaight (19), Bridgetown won an Individual Award at the Garda Awards ceremony for bearing testicular cancer bravely with humour despite experiencing “horrible” chemotherapy.
He has been chosen to represent Clare at the National Garda Youth Awards. Another St Anne’s Community College student, Aaron Hunt also won an Individual Garda Award.
Symptoms of this cancer include a lump or swelling in either testicle, a dull ache in the lower belly or groin, sudden swelling in the scrotum, pain or discomfort in a testicle or the scrotum, back pain and enlargement or tenderness of the breast tissue.
Testicular cancer isn’t a common type. It can happen at any age, but it occurs most often between the age of 15 and 45.
Mr Spaight spoke openly to his year group in St Anne’s Community College about his diagnosis and treatment to educate them on the signs and symptoms of the disease.
St Anne’s Community College teacher, Karl Torpey recalled the teenager displayed great resilience and humour during his treatment.
“Daniel was able to have the craic and joke about it in a self-depreciating way. He kept himself going through humour. He would joke about it in a way that made it easier for people around him and himself,” she said.
While Mr Spaight followed all medical advice, he didn’t dwell too deeply or become resentful about why he got cancer.
“It might sound stupid but not taking it seriously really helped me. My friends would be messing with me about it, which helped me a lot. I took full advantage of it and didn’t do any work around the farm,” he said.
“Having cancer made me value life more, the importance of taking things a bit slower, it made me a better person, enjoy the craic more and not to take life too seriously.
“I didn’t think young men got testicular cancer, I thought it was an old man’s thing. I didn’t think I could get it. I think it is important that any young man 16 or older check themselves to see if anything is wrong.
“It is horrible. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through. If a person can get surgery early and stop cancer from spreading, that would be great.”
He hopes that telling his story will increase the public awareness about the incidence of testicular cancer among young men and will help others to deal with their life struggles.
Having discussed his cancer journey with friends, he may consider delivering a public talk about his own experience to help others in the future.
He really appreciates the way his local community rallied around him and his family during his cancer treatment.
“I got loads of presents, food, money, jerseys and clothes from my family and friends. I got brilliant support during a bad time. I got great care in the Oncology Centre at the University Hospital Limerick,” he said.
“I was the youngest in the Oncology Centre. It was kind of funny because I would be getting looks especially from old people wondering why a young lad was there.
“I spoke to other patients and it was disheartening to hear what old cancer patients have to experience, which was worse than mine, not that it is a competition. I will probably recover fully when I am done but they may not ever recover.
“I got loads of advice about wearing sun cream from older people. I met very nice people in UHL.
“I did one session with a therapist that went well but I didn’t continue because I didn’t feel I needed to because of all the support from friends and family.”
He is delighted to win a Garda Award. “I didn’t even know I was nominated. When my mother told me I had won an award, I thought she and my sister were messing with me.
“I was surprised and delighted. It was amazing to hear other young people’s stories at the awards ceremony and what they have done for their local communities. It is cool to win, I have bragging rights over my friends,” he said.
In addition to playing soccer with Bridge Celtic, he played school basketball. The youngest of three, he has two sisters.
In January 2022, he was injured during a soccer game in the school courtyard when another student ran into him accidentally. His testicle started to swell, went down, and then flared back up again.
After looking up a possible diagnosis on google, testicular cancer came up, which was always at the back of his mind before his official shock diagnosis.
Once he informed his parents about his medical issue, he was taken to the Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick on March 9, 2022.
A day later, the former Bridgetown National School pupil was diagnosed with testicular cancer following blood tests when he was just 16 years of age.
He believes his cancer may have gone undetected longer if he hadn’t the injury in January.
After surgery, he thought he would be discharged home, but had to stay for a CAT scan that showed the cancer had spread to his lungs.
This ensured he required very intensive sessions of chemotherapy with some breaks from April 20 until June 14.
Sometimes during a five-day stay in hospital the teenager received chemotherapy until 2am.
He would then get a break for a few hours before medical staff had to sedate him and give him the medication to prepare him for more treatment.
Returning home for three days, he had to return to the hospital again for more chemotherapy and this continued for three cycles.
He had to have someone with him during the cancer treatment while he was sedated and on drips. After a few days, nurses would change the arm where the chemotherapy was being fed through as the first one would be completely dead after a round of chemo.
“Chemotherapy was horrible. I never thought I would need it as I was leading a healthy life. Cancer hits you like a truck when you are not expecting it. It came out of nowhere. I had to live with it for a few months, thankfully the chemotherapy worked and it is gone since,” he said.
“While I was in hospital for overnight stays, it felt like the treatment was taking longer. At the start of chemotherapy, I felt I was able to do more but as it continued I was getting more lethargic and tired.
“It was tough but I had the support of my family and everyone with me, which was great. I could have the craic as well. I was in Transition Year so there was no stress in school. I missed a trip to Spike Island, rowing and I couldn’t participate in fencing or swimming. It was annoying but I could do some things and didn’t miss too much.”
Mr Spaight recalled he got very sick after the first round of chemotherapy, but didn’t get sick after the other two. In 2022, he was bald while getting chemotherapy when he attended a Munster Women’s Rugby final involving St Anne’s in Cork.
“At half-time, there was a huge queue ahead of us when we went to McDonalds for some food,” he said.
“I said: ‘cancer patient coming through, so I got to the front of the queue’.”
On August 18, 2022, Mr Spaight got the all clear from blood tests.
Although his mother, Marie is a public health nurse,she was shocked that a 16 year-old boy could get testicular cancer. Despite her medical experience of dealing with patients, she said it is a different story when your son has a serious illness. She recalled her son was fortunate to have received the injury as it could have taken even longer to diagnose the testicular cancer, which had spread to his lungs in a very short period. In December 2021, she noticed he was sleeping a lot longer than he ever did and believes he had cancer before his injury.
“Daniel made it so easy for us. He liked the sympathy vibe. His friends were very good to him, giving him presents. We had Manchester United shirts and other gifts coming in the door. His friends said he coped with it very well at school,” she said.
“We had to mind him and let him have his freedom, which left us in a bit of a quandary to get the right balance.
“We are so lucky that Daniel is well now, he can move on now and we can put it behind us.
“It was lovely to see two students from the same secondary school getting an award. Getting the award has been great for Daniel, it is great to see something positive coming out of it,” she said.
His father, Tom, recalled Daniel never complained why he had got cancer at such a young age.
Mr Spaight joked his son “milked” his illness at times by taking a break from farm work when he was tired during his difficult cancer treatment.
“All our neighbours, Daniel’s friends, St Anne’s staff, teachers, and doctors were brilliant for him,” he said.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.