'Doctors told me I saved my life by going to A&E'
Unlike most men, when Stephen Griffin was struck by a sudden pain he didn't ignore his symptoms
WHEN university student Stephen Griffin set off for his part-time summer job as a bouncer in a city pub, he never imagined he'd finish up the night in hospital facing a diagnosis of cancer.
The first clue that anything could be wrong was a slight groin pain as the 20-year-old from Rosmuc, Connemara, set off for work on August 10 last. Initially, he dismissed the ache.
"It was as if I'd pulled a groin muscle," he recalls.
"I play a lot of Gaelic football and rugby, so I put the pain down to that."
However, as the evening wore on, the pain became more intensive.
Suddenly
"I started developing a lot of pain in my groin area. It came on very suddenly."
He had been supposed to start kick-boxing classes that night, he recalls, but was forced to miss the class when he was called in to work.
"As it turned out, I was lucky I missed it, because if I'd gone kick-boxing and experienced that pain I'd have assumed it was just a stretched muscle."
When he started his shift at 9pm the pain was slight, but by the time he finished work it had become unbearable.
"In the space of four hours the pain went from virtually nothing to excruciating," recalls Stephen.
After work he went to the A&E department at University Hospital Galway, where he was seen quickly.
Why didn't he, like many men would have done, suffer in silence, perhaps resorting to painkillers while he waited for the pain to subside?
"In the last two years I have learned a bit about cancer, because a neighbour died of it. That opened my eyes.
"Also, I have always followed cycling and I was aware of Lance Armstrong's battle with testicular cancer."
When the emergency room doctor examined Stephen, he found one of his testicles had swollen very noticeably.
"He said it could be a number of things, including cancer. They carried out a series of tests, blood tests, and an ultra-sound and a CT scan.
"The blood tests showed that I had some form of cancer. They found that there was a tumour on one of my testicles and it was a rapidly progressing growth."
He was deeply shocked.
"When the doctor told me, the legs went a bit weak and the head went a bit dizzy! I didn't faint, but I wasn't far off it."
However, the medics moved fast.
The following Saturday Stephen had an operation to remove the growth.
"They removed the testicle. Removing just the tumour meant there was the possibility of a malignant cell remaining behind, so it was better to take it all and be 100pc safe. The doctors told me that very often the pain caused by this type of cancer can subside, and that people can assume the problem has gone.
"In fact, it would still be developing and that is when it becomes fatal.
"Several doctors said to me that I'd saved my own life by going in to A&E that night. Younger lads don't really go to a doctor with a problem in that area. They'd be shy or bashful. I was very lucky," he says.
There was no need, he was told, for chemotherapy, because his cancer had been caught so early, but he had to be kept under surveillance:
"I see an oncologist regularly and I get chest X-rays and CT scans regularly. I will be under surveillance for a few years.
"In retrospect, I had nothing but luck. I was told that if I hadn't come in when I did, it could have progressed upwards from the testicles to the lymph nodes and upwards to the lungs, neck and head."
As Stephen pondered his experience, he says, the same thought repeatedly occurred to him.
"How many young men will not act on this dull, aching pain because they think it'll pass?
"How many don't even know you can get testicular cancer and what it can do?"
The lack of awareness amongst young men about testicular cancer compared to the high profile of female cancers, such as breast and cervical cancer, struck him hard.
He made contact with Cancer Care West, a charity that promotes awareness of cancer as well as enhancing patient care and providing support for those affected by cancer and their families.
Last year, the organisation announced a partnership with the Galway football team that led to a number of joint initiatives to include cancer awareness, publicity about the benefits of early diagnosis, support and joint fundraising drives.
"Testicular cancer is a very important issue because it affects a lot of young men who tend to be careless about their health and who might let things go because they could assume the pain was a groin strain," says Richard Flaherty, CEO of Cancer Care West.
"If Stephen had not been so proactive about seeking treatment, things might have been very different."
Originally published in
