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Cricket Players'Sport pushed me through the other side': Matthew Wade opens up on his battle with testicular cancer
Wade was 16 when he found out about having testicular cancer in a routine checkup after a football match.
Australia wicketkeeper batter Matthew Wade played a vital role in his side's dramatic five-wicket win over Pakistan in the semi-final of T20 World Cup 2021. The left-handed dasher slammed three consecutive maximums off Shaheen Afridi en route to his unbeaten 17-ball 41, helping Australia inch closer towards adding one more piece of silverware in their trophy cabinet.
The Aussies beat New Zealand by eight wickets in a lop-sided title clash. Over a month has passed since the Aaron Finch-led side clinched Australia's first T20 World Cup title, and Wade has opened up about the challenges he faced after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He was 16 when he found out about having testicular cancer in a routine checkup after a football match.
In a heartwarming video shared by Cricket Australia, Wade explained how sports emerged as a real outlet for him during the tumultuous phase of life.
“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," said Wade.
Wade rewound the phase and stressed how it was "harder" for his family to go through the period. “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."
Wade's father Scott also recalled the challenging stretch, telling how difficult it was for his son who would see a bunch of hair falling out. A young Wade got "unbelievable" support from his mother during that time.
“Matthew got unbelievable support from his mother. It was about the hair falling out and how he was going to play cricket. 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."
Having missed out on a Test spot to Alex Carey for the ongoing Ashes series, Wade is now looking forward to defending the T20 title next year, after which he will think of calling it a day.
"That'll be my next motivation - hopefully get to that World Cup, defend the title and then I can sail off into the sunset," Wade was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au following Australia's title triumph.
"I certainly won't be playing (international cricket) beyond that point. That would be my goal from here."
