A FOOTBALLER who believes his teammates saved his life has decided to enter the Race for Life in Salisbury to give back to research.

At the time, Kevin Lane's teammates at Shaftesbury FC mentioned he had an enlarged testicle and encouraged him to seek medical advice.

Salisbury Journal: Image Cancer ResearchImage Cancer Research (Image: Cancer Research UK)

Kevin was shocked to receive the official diagnosis of testicular cancer just 48 hours after meeting his future wife Donna and the couple had to take the immediate decision to preserve his sperm before he had his treatment.

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Kevin, now 49, said: "It was a bit embarrassing dropping my trousers to my GP at the age of 27 but he said straight away what he thought it could be and soon after, I was booked in for surgery to confirm what it was. I tried to block it out of my mind by going out and then, I met Donna.”

Donna, 45 said: "The weekend we got together, we had met at a music festival and the next day, Kevin had to say to me, ‘by the way, I’m going to the hospital tomorrow because they think I have testicular cancer.’ I knew I wanted to support him from that moment on.

"It did mean we had to have conversations really early about whether or not we wanted to have children because they had to freeze his sperm before removing the testicle."

She added: “Suddenly you find yourself talking to someone you’ve only been with for three days with him saying, ‘If I die, do you want to use my sperm?’ It was the most surreal moment.”

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Once Kevin had his testicle removed, doctors discovered that cancer had spread to his stomach so he had to undergo surgery and receive chemotherapy.

22 years later, the couple is happily married and parents to son Alex, 16 through IVF treatment.

The event takes place at Hudson’s Field on Sunday, June 11, and Kevin and his wife Donna plan to both participate in the 5k event.

Money raised in the UK’s Race for Life event raises millions of pounds each year to help beat cancer by funding crucial research.

For more information go to the Race for Life website.