IT is an everyday hazard that comes with having young children. But when his two-year-old daughter jumped on Donald Lindsay’s lap as he sat on the sofa, she unwittingly helped to save his life.
Standing in the shower the next day examining the injury, he noticed a lump on his testicle and made a GP’s appointment.
He was quickly referred for an ultrasound and then had an operation to remove his right testicle. With a diagnosis of testicular cancer confirmed, this was followed by chemotherapy treatment.
A year on, the 41-year-old has entered the Edinburgh half-marathon to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, after using the charity for online support during treatment.
He said: “My daughter was two at the time and she jumped on me on the sofa. The next morning in the shower it was still really painful and it was at this time that I discovered the lump.”
It is the second challenge Mr Lindsay has taken on for Macmillan after he and his friends did the Longest Day Golf Challenge last June, raising £3,500 for the charity.
He said: “Cancer does not have to be scary if you have this support and I know that without Macmillan and other organisations I would not have been able to get through it in the way that I did.”
“We did four rounds of golf in one day, which took 14 hours,” he says. “It was harder than I thought it was going to be, but it felt like a milestone and was an achievement.
“When the half-marathon came along I thought it was another good target and again it is associated with Macmillan. I am planning to run it with my sister. It will be difficult but it’s a half-marathon so it feels achievable.”
“I found Macmillan’s online community really helpful. At each stage of the process you were going through what other people had gone through.”
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