A father from South London is spreading awareness after he put off going to have a bump on his nose tested and a doctor was able to immediately tell it was cancer once he finally went to get it looked out. Kevin Kelly, who is from Erith, discovered that he had a developing tumor on his nose in the previous year, but he delayed having it looked out because he did not want to put further strain on the National Health Service while the pandemic was in effect.
When he went to a doctor for the first time in a long time, the physician told him right away that it was malignant, and after a biopsy, he was swiftly sent to Guy’s Hospital in November 2021 because of the size and location of the disease. The malignancy, which at this point measured 2 centimeters by 2 centimeters, was removed in an operation, and two days later, 52-year-old Kevin returned to St. Thomas’ for surgery to fix the defect that was left behind after the cancer had been removed. The cartilage removed from his ear was utilized to reconstruct the rim of his nose and prevent further collapse of his nasal passageway.
Kevin, who works for a housing association, claimed that after surgery he looked like he had “gone 12 rounds with Tyson Fury,” but now that it’s mending nicely, he looks like he’s “been rugby tackled by an over exuberant Boris Johnson.”
Kevin, who works for a housing association, said that after surgery he seemed as if he had “gone 12 rounds with Tyson Fury,” but now that it is mending properly, he seems as though he has “been rugby tackled by an over exuberant Boris Johnson.”
“You wouldn’t notice if we passed each other on the street, but you would if we were sat face to face,” he said to MyLondon. “You wouldn’t notice if we passed each other on the street.” His nose is still scarred from the procedure, so he will be going in for cosmetic surgery at his next checkup; nevertheless, he is being open and honest about the challenges he had with his mental health during the process.
“One of the things I noticed was that I wasn’t worried about getting it treated, but it did have an impact on my mental health,” he added. “One of the things I noticed was that I wasn’t worried about getting it treated.” “There was a great deal of anxiety surrounding what I was going to have to deal with and what it would mean.”
The surgery itself was “very intense and stressful,” and as a result, Kevin’s emotions were “all over the place” during and after the procedure.
“I was self-conscious about the physical things,” he stated. “I was afraid of being judged.” “At first, even the simplest tasks proved to be quite challenging; for example, going as far as opening the front door. I was caught off guard by how much energy all of it required of me. It wasn’t until after Christmas that I began to feel like I was making progress toward healing and had more energy.
Kevin made use of a wide variety of various resources in order to get assistance and support. He considers himself “really lucky” to have had the support of his spouse, who was “amazing,” and he also found that the counseling he had at work was useful throughout the whole process, especially when he returned to work. He also made use of the “brilliant” materials provided by Macmillan Cancer Support, which assisted him in explaining some of the things that were about to occur.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, Kevin and a few other guys have gotten together once every couple of weeks to “support each other and check in” via Zoom. This has been one of the finest things that has happened to Kevin.
Kevin elucidated that when the epidemic first began, everyone quickly realized how vital it was for everyone to have assistance. “I made the decision very early on to be completely transparent with people about it [his cancer],” she said. It’s not something that just affects males, but a lot of the time men simply don’t speak about what’s going on.
