Despite losing half of his manhood to a life-threatening illness, a man has defied science by fathering a child.
Steven 'Stumpy' Hamill was diagnosed with penis cancer in April 2019 after experiencing horrendous agony down south. Doctors initially waved off any suggestions of cancer, believing his age (he was 26 at the time) didn't correlate.
The first warning sign was an inflated head of his penis, ballooning to four times its natural size.
It was deemed to be balanitis and Hamill was simply sent home with some steroid cream.
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"I put steroid cream on it for two weeks solidly and there was no change," he remembered.
"I went back to the doctors two weeks later and he said it was definitely balanitis. But by this point I was in so much pain. It felt like someone was poking a needle into the end of my penis. The only way I could get a little bit of pain-free time was in the bathroom or I'd be rocking on the floor.
"After this, the smell started. I would describe this smell as death," the former cancer patient continued. "The smell followed me round and it was awful and other people could smell it.
"I went back to the doctors. I had every sign and symptom of penile cancer and the doctor agreed but he said it 'couldn't be cancer' as I was only 26."
It wasn't until Hamill woke up in a pool of blood in his brother's car that A&E workers took him seriously.
He was then transferred to a specialist unit at Manchester's Christie NHS Foundation Trust, undergoing a circumcision before half of his penis was removed.
Three years later, Hamill miraculously became a dad for the first time.
"When I put in the lads' group chat about my cancer diagnosis, one of them changed my nickname to Stumpy and I am still called this," the survivor revealed.
"I was rather well-endowed beforehand so I've now been brought down to like the average, so around four inches. [My penis] is still fully functional and working.
"I was really lucky that I was well-endowed because if I was average I would have gone down to about one or two inches and that functionality isn't really there anymore".
The dating scene hasn't shifted too significantly for Hamill, fortunately.
"It changes from person to person when I tell dates about my surgery. Sometimes I make a joke about it instantly," he said. "It's never been an issue with anyone I've dated, but it's more me adapting and learning new things.
"I was told I would never have kids because the surgery happened on my urethra, and I now have a four-year-old boy. Everything is still functional and I can still have kids".
Topics: Health, Sex and Relationships, Parenting
Dan Seddon