A 41-year-old man who beat testicular cancer decided to decorate his entire house with Christmas lights that spell out “Check Your Nuts” in order to spread awareness for the life killing disease.
Christian Roach, a father, felt pain in his testicles in October 2018 and was later diagnosed with testicular cancer.
After being diagnosed with cancer in January, Roach went through treatment and beat the disease out.
As part of his celebration, Christian, who lives in Trealaw, Rhondda, Wales, decided to put up Christmas lights that says “check your nuts” to encourage men to get their testicles checked.
Christian has spelled out “Check Yr Nuts” using 750 fairy lights that he hung up on the railings outside his house.
Talking about why he placed the lights, Christian said, “I had cancer at Christmas last year but I had no idea.”
He added, “I knew something was wrong and couldn’t properly enjoy Christmas. I am normally very bubbly but my mates and the family said I seemed off.”
He continued, “I tried to put on a brave face but people did say I didn’t seem like myself. The message with the lights is massive and really important to me. We trim up with lights every year and I just said this as a joke at first. But Nicola loved the idea and we ran with it. The street is glowing up now it is.”
Christian said he did not know a lot of things about cancer, but one thing that he did know was that it is important to catch it in its early stages.
If cancer is caught in its early stages, everything can be sorted out.
When he started to feel more pain in his testicles, he went back to the doctors and was asked to get his nuts scanned.
He was later diagnosed with Cancer.
Talking about what he felt when he was told that he had cancer, Christian said, “I can’t explain what it felt like to be told I had cancer. I would not wish it upon my worst enemy. I have never experienced anything like that in my life. When I went home I could not look my kids in the eyes.”
Christian said his biggest worry was leaving his kids behind.
Christian said the hospital was really good at treating him and helped him get rid of the disease.
Christian went through operation 3 weeks after the diagnosis.
He had one of his testicles removed.
Talking about the feeling, Christian said, “It felt amazing to be given the all-clear so quickly. I was very stressed about it and Christmas was a very hard time of the year for me last year.”
He continued, “It was a massive relief to get it sorted and I am so pleased I did the right thing to get it checked out.”
Christian said a lot of men have been in touch with him since he placed the lights up.