A top police officer is urging people to get checked for testicular cancer after receiving a devastating diagnosis. Chief Superintendent Steve Jones was told he had cancer aged 46 after being pressured to visit his GP by his wife to get his blood pressure checked. The officer said he used this as an excuse to disclose his concerns to the doctor.
In an emotive article as part of South Wales Police's Humans of SWP series, he said he had been experiencing discomfort for some time but hoped it was an injury after being hit by a tennis ball. However, in the back of his mind he had an idea it might be something more serious.
"It’s shellshock, you know. I was praying and hoping that it was down to a trauma – I was hit by a tennis ball many, many months before – and I put it down to that. I was praying it was always going to be that. But when I actually plucked up the courage, put my big boy trousers on and went to see the doctor, I had an inkling because it had been there for so long. The thing for me is I could kick myself, how long it took me to go and sort it out and put all my embarrassment and everything else to one side."
