Testicular cancer: Personal trainer breaks weights record after scare

Ben Haldon, 31, wanted to raise awareness about testicular cancer and men's health

A personal trainer from Merseyside has become a world record holder following a cancer scare.

Ben Haldon, 31, from Wallasey, became the Guinness World Record holder for walking the furthest distance carrying 45kg (100lbs) over 24 hours.

He beat the previous record which stood at a little over 50km.

Mr Haldon has raised almost £5,000 for men's health charity Movember, inspired by his own testicular cancer scare, which resulted in surgery.

He noticed a lump in December 2022, which began to give him a bit of discomfort and pain and prompted him to get a check-up.

Towards the end of January he underwent surgery on the non-malignant lump and came up with the world record idea while in hospital.

His record is for "the furthest distance in 24 hours farmer's carry 100lb (male)", a farmer's carry meaning holding heavy weights while walking for a certain amount of time or distance.

He completed the challenge at The Oval in Bebington, Wirral, in July

He completed the challenge at The Oval in Bebington, Wirral, on 22 July.

He said: "I felt that I wanted to do something for other people because I felt very lucky that my lump was not cancerous.

"I put my thinking cap on and wanted to do something to carry the weight for other men who are going through testicular cancer and find it hard to speak about, or struggle mentally, and that's where the idea behind carrying 100lb for 24 hours came from."

Mr Haldon said he experienced emotional and mental fatigue, with the toughest moments in the sixth to seventh hours.

"I had this niggling injury near my bicep and it was just playing up all the time," he said.

"And it got to that six/seven hour marker and I thought, I'm not going to be able to do this - the pain was around a nine out of 10.

"I remember my wife Lucy came over to me and and knew just by the look on my face that I was in a bad place, but I said I'm going to carry on going until my bicep pings off the arm."

He added: "The training was actually harder than the actual day because on the day I had loads of people cheering for me, whereas when I was training I had no support, no claps, no instant gratification."

In a plea to people concerned about changes to their testicles, he said: "Just never ever be embarrassed.

"I think that's the biggest thing - the embarrassment of it - because I think the only time guys really speak about their private parts is as a bit of banter and there's never really serious conversations to be had about it, which probably creates a bit of a stigma."