Rising star bounces back from cancer knock
4 min read 14 October 2025
At 20 years old, Charles had just moved to Melbourne to pursue his dream of becoming a professional AFL player. He was strong, ambitious and a rising star.
But in the middle of a football game, he took a light knock to the belly, the kind he’d brushed off countless times before. No big deal.
But this time, something was very wrong. He doubled over in agony.
From the changerooms – pale, shaking, barely able to stand – Charles called his dad.
“I think I need to go to the emergency room,” he said.
When Charles arrived, doctors ran test after test. Was it appendicitis? A torn muscle? A ruptured spleen? One by one, each cause was ruled out until finally, the diagnosis came: testicular cancer. And it was aggressive.
Charles was diagnosed with testicular cancer at just 20.
The most "traumatic" chapter of Charles' life
As he underwent chemotherapy to save his life, Charles lost 10 kilograms, his strength, his hair. He became gaunt, unrecognisable even to himself.
And then came surgery, so intense that he could barely walk for weeks.
Charles says nothing could have prepared him for how difficult facing cancer would be.
“You go from being young, fit and healthy… to losing your strength, your sense of self and even your self-confidence,” says Charles.
The active life he knew vanished overnight. He went from training every day to being overwhelmed by fatigue and nausea.
But every week, he kept showing up to Peter Mac, determined to get through it.
Then came the surgery – a huge operation deep inside his abdomen. He spent 10 days in hospital. It felt like ages before he could walk properly again.
Slowly, after so many painful months, he started jogging, training, playing footy again.
It all took time.
But he was determined to get his life back.
Your donation will help ensure no young person has to ensure the hardship that Charles faced.
Cancer research is the best path to ensure young people like Charles can bounce back from cancer to healthy lives, full of promise.
Your donation to Peter Mac today will help fund life-saving cancer research. Give now to support research breakthroughs in cancer.
Young people are blindsided by cancer
At Peter Mac, our expert researchers and doctors care for young people like Charles every day. Young people are blindsided by testicular cancer – enduring treatment that, while life-saving, can take a harsh toll.
Our researchers have created a plan to transform treatment for testicular cancer – to save more lives and to protect the quality of life during and long after treatment. This includes:
- New blood tests that can detect relapse earlier, without invasive biopsies or scans
- Safer, less toxic chemotherapy
- Fertility-preserving treatments to protect future families
- More precise surgery that reduces damage and improves recovery times.
This kind of research has the power to help countless young people come through cancer with their health intact, and their futures protected.
You can help this kind of vital cancer research to continue advancing. Donate so that today’s breakthroughs can become tomorrow’s treatments.
Bouncing back to healthy lives, full of promise
Charles is grateful for the treatment he received:
“It’s because of cancer research, and because of people who cared enough to support it, that I’m still alive.”
Your support for Peter Mac might be the reason another young person can survive. With less pain. Less harm. And the chance to live the full, and vibrant life they were meant to live.
Give now to help protect futures like Charles’s. So young people not only survive cancer but thrive beyond it.
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