'My quick actions saved my teenage son's life when he found a lump - be aware'
Lisa Coote was working a night shift on Boxing Day in 2021 when she received the text that would turn her family’s life upside down.
Her son Ben, then 17, had found something worrying and wanted to run it by his mum. “He messaged me to say he’d been in the shower and found a lump on his testicle,” she remembers. “I tried to play it down, replying, ‘Try not to worry.’”
Back home, Ben was reassured. He says: “When I found the lump I just thought, ‘What’s that?!’ Then I got a bit scared being the only one who knew and wanted my mum to be in on the situation.”
But while Lisa, a clinical support nurse from Bolton, Greater Manchester, knew the lump could be caused by many things, she was concerned. The following morning she suggested he get it checked out.
“I’ve always told Ben, I don’t care what it is, no matter how embarrassing, lumps, bumps, anything to do with your sex life, I’ll always help you. We’re very close. We could only have one child, he’s our miracle baby.
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Ben managed to get his cancer diagnosed quickly (DAILY MIRROR)
The teen is now looking forward to his future (DAILY MIRROR)“I said, ‘I know it’s embarrassing, I promise not to look’ and instantly just felt sick because as soon as I felt the lump, I knew it shouldn’t be there. I didn’t want to freak him out, I just knew we needed to get it sorted as soon as possible.”
Ben’s dad, firefighter Steve, 52, drove him to an out-of-hours appointment. “They came back laughing and joking,” Lisa recalls. “The doctor had said he couldn’t feel anything.
“I wasn’t happy so I made sure Ben saw our GP who referred him for a scan. As it was between Christmas and New Year he couldn’t say how long it would be.”
Aware speed was of the essence, Lisa contacted local scanning clinic ScanAssure. The CEO, Roy Craven, offered to open on the New Year bank holiday especially for Ben.
“Roy said he’d be able to tell us on the spot, so when he referred us back to our doctor, I knew it was cancer. Straight away, I just knew. Everything kicked off from there,” says Lisa. Ben had further scans, saw a urologist and consultant and the cancer diagnosis was confirmed.
“My husband said if it’d been down to him, he’d have taken the first doctor’s word for it. By the time Ben had been looked at again, it could have spread. I’m a Marie Curie nurse and work at a hospice, I’ve been in healthcare for years, so any kind of lump frightens me.”
Teenager Ben found a lump (DAILY MIRROR)
A CT scan following the chemo showed Ben's cancer had gone (DAILY MIRROR)“I’m a Marie Curie nurse and work at a hospice, I’ve been in healthcare for years, so any kind of lump frightens me.” Just under a month after finding it – and the day after freezing his sperm in case of chemotherapy – Ben had the testicle removed.
“I wasn’t too worried about the cancer, but that day was really daunting,” admits Ben. “I’d never been through surgery. That was the scariest thing of all.”
But there was another shock in store. The surgical team found Ben had decreased renal function – one of his kidneys was blocked off. Lisa says: “It was basically dead. My first thought was kidney cancer but the doctor said it was unrelated.”
Examination of the testicular tumour removed found it was a fast-growing cancer but, due to Ben’s kidney problems, doctors were reluctant to give him chemo. To the family’s enormous relief, a follow-up CT scan came back clear and the cancer was gone. While regular check-ups and scans are now part of Ben’s life, they’re looking to the future.
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At the end of July, Ben had surgery to remove his non-functioning kidney. His recovery was aided by a brand new PlayStation5, a gaming chair, headset and gaming vouchers, funded by Make-A-Wish UK’s Wish 200 Week, which involved gamers doing sponsored live streams, challenges and special events.
For sporty Ben, who recently sat A-levels in PE, biology and computer science, playing FIFA online with his friends has been a lifeline now doctors have told him not to play football and rugby in case he damages his kidney.
Lisa says Ben has been brilliant throughout. “As soon as we heard the word cancer his dad and I went to pieces. But Ben said, ‘No mum, it’ll be fine. We’ll get it sorted’. I’m so proud of how he’s coped.”
Ben is now hoping to study diagnostic radiography and works part time at ScanAssure, the company that opened up on that nerve-racking bank holiday.
“Good has come from the diagnosis as well as the scare – if it wasn’t for me having cancer, I wouldn’t know what job I wanted to do,” says Ben. “I focus on the positives and life experience rather than sitting around thinking about the fact I had cancer.”
- Visit make-a-wish.org.uk, and for info on testicular cancer, see nutsandbolts.movember.com
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