A man has described how a doodle of his testicle drawn by his fiancée saved his life, leading him to receive crucial treatment. Ed Baldwin, 29, has opened up about his testicular cancer journey, and how his fiancée Chloe played a major role in getting him diagnosed.

Ed, then 27, started experiencing a dull ache in his right testicle in 2024, leading him to go to A&E before he was diagnosed with epididymitis and given a course of antibiotics as treatment.

The epididymis is a tube that goes behind the testicles. If it becomes swollen and painful, this could be due to an infection, according to the NHS.

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However, the ache didn’t stop, and when Ed began to feel a sharp pain, he returned again in October. Following this second visit, he had an ultrasound and blood tests, which led to a testicular cancer diagnosis.

However, Ed has since revealed a second factor that encouraged him to go to the doctors again - a drawing his fiancée did of his testicle. Said doodle showed a misshapen oval on a piece of A4 paper.

The communications manager, from Northampton in Northamptonshire, has since spoken out about his health and recovery, including how he made the mistake of initially ignoring his symptoms.

He exclusively shared: "At the end of September, my partner and I were in the process of moving into our first house.We held a leaving party and throughout the night, I was experiencing this sharp pain and it didn't feel right. I just put it down to the epididymitis flaring up.

"As men do, I ignored it and thought it would just get better, especially when the doctors told me I could cure the symptoms with antibiotics.”

Ed said that when he saw the contrast between the two testicles, “it was like Jekyll and Hyde as they were completely different”.

He added: “Looking back it's a funny anecdote but I remember her drawing what my testicle felt like and I was shocked that this was in my body.

"It made me think, 'why is my body failing me?', when I'm such an active person and I have a good diet. At this point after seeing the drawing and feeling the pain in my testicle, I knew I definitely had to get this checked out and taken seriously.”

Following his diagnosis, Ed had his right testicle removed on October 23, 2024 before enduring chemotherapy and having a scan that showed the cancer had not spread to the rest of his body. He was eventually told he was cancer free on January 8, 2025.

Remembering that day, he said: “The feeling of finishing on that last day was great. They told me the chemo had worked and the cancer was no longer. It felt surreal and I was quite overcome with emotion. I just wanted to get on with life.”

Ed is now an ambassador for MovemberUK and has encouraged men to get checked. He said: “There is no harm in this as the doctors could just be wrong. You need to listen to your body and don't take no for an answer if you're really concerned about something.

"Regularly checking yourself is so important, a lot of guys ignore changes because they might be embarrassed. A lot of changes might not be anything serious but it's better to go to your GP and get it checked as soon as you can.

"You need to remember that you're not alone and hundreds of men go through this. I would also say don't wait for it to get worse. You need to take your health seriously even if it feels awkward.”

According to Cancer Research UK, testicular cancer is the 17th most common cancerin men in the UK, with around 2,400 new cases each year, and incidence rates highest for men between the ages of 30 and 34 (according to data recorded between 2017 and 2019), with a survival rate of 96.5 percent for 10 or more years.