‘I’m so sorry, I’ve got cancer’: why do two of every five Australian men die early from preventable conditions?

Left to right: Shehan, Sohan and Roshan Karunaratne. Shehan waited a year before going to a doctor to have a lump on his testicle checked out. The cancer had spread to his lungs and grown on his nerves down his back, around his hip and down his legs. Photograph: Supplied by Roshan Karunaratne.

After Shehan Karunaratne noticed a lump on his testicle, the 26-year-old went to the doctor – but only mentioned the pain going up his leg. The general practitioner recommended physiotherapy.

A year later, when he returned coughing up blood, he received a diagnosis of stage 4 testicular cancer which had spread to his lungs, grown on the nerves down his back, around his hip and down his legs.