Australia batter who made debut against India, reveals horrific battle with cancer: ‘Lost all hair, was taking steroids’

Australia batter Nic Maddinson opens up on his horrific battle with testicular cancer.

Australia batter Nic Maddinson, who made his international debut against India 12 years ago, opened up on his testicular cancer diagnosis as he spoke about the struggles he has been going through of late. The left-handed batter has spent seven months away from competitive cricket; however, he is now targeting a return to the field. Maddinson, who last played for Australia nine years ago, described the chemotherapy process starting mid-May as the “longest nine weeks” of his life.

Nic Maddinson opens up on his horrific battle with testicular cancer

The batter has been out of action since being dropped by New South Wales in March. He underwent surgery to remove a tumour, and it was then that he received the grim news about the cancer spreading.

The 33-year-old has played 3 Tests and 6 T20Is for Australia, with his debut T20I coming against India in Rajkot in 2013.

“Once I found out I had to have chemo, that was pretty hard to deal with. It had spread to parts of my abdominal lymph nodes and lung. That was a bit where it was pretty daunting," he told Nine newspapers.

Maddison revealed that the diagnosis happened when he was expecting his second child with his wife, Bianca. "By the second or third week, I lost all my hair. I was feeling pretty average. I was taking types of steroids to manage side effects, but they would keep me up at night."

"I’d sleep until about 1 AM, but sometimes I’d then be awake until 6 AM. I found that difficult. I was super drained and felt like I had to sleep 24/7. It was the slowest and longest nine weeks," he added.

The chemo process ended mid-July

The chemotherapy process finally came to an end in mid-July, and this resulted in the batter, who has more than 10,000 runs across formats, returning to training at the NSW headquarters in Olympic Park.

“To know that I caught it probably as early as I could have, and it still spread into other parts of my body, that was scary,” said Maddinson.

“I just think it’s so important if you have anything you’re worried about, get it checked out," he added.