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New Delhi: Australian batter Nic Maddinson has revealed the challenges he faced while battling with testicular cancer earlier this year. The 33-year-old represented Australia in three Tests and six T20Is, spoke about his journey from surgery to chemotherapy and his ongoing recovery to make a comeback in cricket.
Maddinson played his last match for New South Wales in early March but was dropped from the team for the last Sheffield Shield match of the 2024-25 season. In his post-season review, the batter mentioned to New South Wales doctor John Orchard that he had felt a lump.
Scans further revealed a tumour, and he had surgery immediately to remove it. But seven weeks later further tests revealed that the cancer had spread.
The left-hand batter talked about his battle with cancer and said that once he found out that he 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. By the second or third week, I lost all my hair. I was feeling pretty average and was taking types of steroids to manage side effects, but they would keep me up at night," Maddinson told The Nine Newspapers.
His wife Bianca was also pregnant with their second child when he started the treatment, and she had to quit her job as a dentist to look after their toddler son while Maddinson underwent chemotherapy. The cricketer said that he felt guilty about not doing anything at home.
The batter completed his chemotherapy on July 14 and had his first hit in the net ten days later. Maddinson further added that eight weeks after his last chemotherapy, he got the good news that the treatment had worked.
"My recent tests were all good, and I can go about getting back into cricket, which I love. I would still love to play Test cricket again, but I'm more realistic," he added.
After the birth of his second son, Wilder, Maddinson is grateful to be healthy again and has urged others to get checked if they feel something abnormal.
