A Wimbledon man has celebrated a taboo cancer surgery with a fun and fearless 'ball-voyage' party.

Justin Robertson, now 26, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016 at the age of just 24.

After initially ignoring worrying symptoms, Justin visited a sexual health clinic where a doctor quickly diagnosed a suspected cancerous lump, which was later confirmed as testicular cancer. As a result of his diagnosis, Justin had to have his left testicle removed and also underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

At first, Justin was afraid to share his cancer worries, but then decided to confront his life-changing treatment head-on, – he even had a party to celebrate the removal of his testicle.

Justin shared his unique approach to coping with his cancer diagnosis and how beneficial it was to speak with friends, family and Macmillan Cancer Support.

"At the age of 24, I never imagined I was going to be walking around with one ball," he said.

"When I told my friends, they were incredibly upset but very quickly after that, they decided to throw me a party and they called it the ‘ball-voyage party.'

"They prepared hilarious catering – round doughnuts, scotch eggs and we had a playlist featuring the likes of Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wreaking Ball’ and Jerry Lee Lewis’ ‘Great Balls of Fire’.

"Despite what was potentially terrifying situation for everyone involved, everyone had a really good sense of humour around it and that made me feel much more comfortable. And as soon as I was really open with them, then they were open with me."

He added that having the strong core of friends in his life enabled him to gradually tell more and more people.

“I put off an important conversation with a medical professional for a long time, but I also put off really serious conversations with close friends and family, who would have been with me and supported me if they had known – people who would have offered to come to that clinic with me, so I wouldn’t have been on my own when I was getting the news," he added.

"I’m just really thankful I did have that have that chat when I did.”

Macmillan information and support manager at Kingston Hospital, Archana Sood, is worried that shame and stigma is preventing people from getting help.

"It’s really sad that despite dealing with a serious illness, people are too embarrassed to ask for help with the associated physical and financial problems as well as their mental wellbeing," she said.

“Patients that I work with can often experience problems with incontinence, erectile dysfunction and relationships.

"I find these are some of the topics that people feel most embarrassed to broach, but not addressing these issues can have a huge impact on physical and emotional health, and in some instances, even treatment outcomes."

To get help from Macmillan you can call the support line on 0800 808 0000.