Australia wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade, on Monday (December 20), opened up about the challenges he faced after being diagnosed with testicular cancer as a teenager.
Wade also talked about the vital community support he received when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 16 and how sports helped him to get out of that tumultuous phase of life.
Wade was diagnosed with testicular cancer in a routine checkup after he was hit in the groin during a football match and it later became the biggest challenge of his life.
Notably, the left-hander recently led Australia to a dramatic five-wicket win from the jaws of defeat in a do-or-die T20 World Cup semi-final against Pakistan with a knock of unbeaten 17-ball 41, helping it the side to win their maiden trophy in the format in the UAE last month.
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Wade said a heartwarming video shared by Cricket Australia on Twitter: “When I was 16, I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. That was a big part of my life, but I was lucky that I had good mates in sporting teams, older people in sporting teams that really got me out of the house, and got me back in training. Sports became a real outlet for me through that period of time.”
The 33-year-old admitted that his cancer battle was harder for his family than for him.
He explained, “It was a challenging time but sport pushed me through the other side. It was probably harder on my family. I was a lot younger and didn’t probably understand what was going on too much. It was just kind of ‘do this and do that' to get it better. It probably took a hit on him, family, more than it took on me.”
Meanwhile, Wade's father Scott also recalled the challenging time, saying: “Matthew got unbelievable support from his mother. It was about the hair falling out and how he was going to play cricket.”
His father signed off by saying, “He would put his cricket cap on and when he pulled it off, a bunch of hair would fall out. That sort of stuff was really challenging for Matthew.”
(With Cricket Australia Inputs)
