Bollocks To Cancer (C4): STEVEN Liddell began the film by telling us about his cancer. "Fortunately, I had the tumour removed; unfortunately, it was attached to my left bollock at the time," he said.
I can't help feeling sorry for 19-year-old Steven. Not just because of the cancer but because inevitably his performance in this documentary will be judged against that of Jonny Kennedy in Patrick Collerton's previous, multi award-winning film The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off.
Whatever the Newcastle film-maker did next was going to be judged alongside that. By choosing to do another health story, he made things more difficult for himself. Jonny was a remarkable person whose story and outlook on life touched all those who watched the documentary about him. The key difference in this case, as Collerton has pointed out, is that it is a survivor's story. There was even a baby to make the happy ending complete after Steven discovered, while undergoing treatment, that his 17-year-old girlfriend Katie was pregnant.
Like many things in this engaging film, this caused some debate at home. "Maybe he was wanting to check out he was in working order after his operation," suggested his mother Linda.
The documentary was as much about treatment for testicular cancer as Steven coping with the illness. His narration provided plenty of amusing insights into a subject that many would rather not hear about.
The changes in Steven himself became apparent as he underwent three 21-day cycles of chemotherapy, spending six days in hospital for each cycle, in the Northern Centre for Cancer Treatment at Newcastle General Hospital.
It wasn't just feeling constantly sick. Not just losing his hair, although that did raise concerns. "People think I should be afraid of dying but my main fear is my hair is going to grow back ginger," he said. Not even having to stop smoking worried him, mainly because he simply dragged his drip trolley outside so he could light up.
What got on his nerves was the tedium of the chemo treatment, sitting all day hooked up to a drip. "Everyone is talking about the cancer and the chemo. For me, the real killer is the boredom," he said.
As you can tell, both Steven and the film's approach to a deadly serious situation was to respond with humour. "I'm 19, I don't do emotional journeys," he said at the start.
While his mother went on medication to deal with the stress, he went around saying: "Everyone's acting a bit tragic with me but I'm going to do it my way."
Just as inevitable as a loving mother's reaction was that Steven would be altered by an experience that left him "bald, knackered and puking".
Eventually, he admitted: "I don't want the cancer to make me a different person but it has - and I hate it." It was a rare outburst in his journey that ended with Steven, Katie and their new baby sitting happily side-by-side on the sofa. And Steven's hair wasn't growing back ginger.
Published: 10/06/2005
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