Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group Fundraiser on November 15 raised over $250,000. Hamish Blake (MC), Charlie Davies, Dr Samantha Oakes (CEO, ANZUP) and Prof Peter Grimison
Charlie Davies is a 24-year-old real estate agent of Raine and Horne Double Bay who is turning his personal battle with metastatic testicular cancer into a mission to save lives, rallying the eastern suburbs, real estate and greater community behind him.
Mr Davies first visited a GP in 2023 with concerns that were initially missed. A year later he revisited the doctor, leading to a life-changing cancer diagnosis in February 2024 at the age of 23.
Undergoing major surgery and nine weeks of chemotherapy, he is now 15 months cancer-free and on a mission to advocate for early detection.
“I first when to the GP with concerns about a lump on my right testicle that kind of got brushed off because they thought it might have been something else,” he said.
“In that kind of space the cancer did spread.”
Charlie Davies and his sister Polly
Mr Davies said it was about a year after the initial visit he had extreme pain in his lower abdomen, when he was sent in for a scan at Medscan Double Bay.
“From then everything moved pretty quickly,” he said. “I pretty much got told the next day that it’s likely to be testicular cancer and that I would need an operation to remove my right testicle and then further examine from there.”
Working in real estate at Double Bay at the time of receiving his diagnosis, Mr Davies underwent nine weeks of chemotherapy.
“It was quite an aggressive tumour that was there and it had spread up to my lymph nodes into my abdomen in the back of my stomach that was when it required the intense just under three months of chemotherapy,” he said.
“That was probably by far the hardest bit of the journey. I kind of went in there expecting it to be quite tough and it sort of broke me apart in terms of the side effects, it was a lot worse than what I expected originally going in there.”
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Charlie’s mum (Bridget), Charlie and girlfriend Jules
On busy weeks, he was in hospital around five days a week for six or seven hour infusions.
Mr Davies said his family, girlfriend Jules, who is also a nurse, and those close to him were his support in the process.
“I had a really good support network which helped a lot,” he said. “I have a very close-knit family, my mum and dad were over here during my whole chemotherapy.
“I was pretty much in the hospital all day Monday to Friday and then would have the weekend to recover and then back into it Monday.”
Fellow survivors also had an immense impact in his journey.
“I spoke to two men that had recently gone through a similar thing to me,” Mr Davies said.
“They helped immensely in just having someone to chat to that had gone through the exact same treatment regimen, to talk to about what you may and may not face in the chemotherapy and the whole process was a game changer.”
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Charlie’s mum (Bridget), Charlie, Charlie’s dad (tbag), Ed (brother) and Polly (sister)
Mr Davies was out of work while he was undergoing treatment.
“Over the three hard months with chemotherapy I was sort of out of work that whole time, so jumping back into it was a little hard at the start,” he said. “But I got back into it and got a few listings on the go.
“It’s always going to be there, but it almost feels like a blur looking back at it and you kind of just move on with your life but get check-ups every couple of months.”
Mr Davies said no matter what you are going through, it’s always better to speak up.
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On busy weeks, Mr Davies was in hospital around five days a week for about six or seven hour infusion days
“Whether it’s going through your head or if you’re physically sick, ask for help,” he said.
“Then just do the simple things, get up and go for a walk or try exercise that was something that I tried to do on days where I was able to, just try and get a bit of fresh air and get moving.”
Mr Davies is now on a mission to spread awareness and advocate for early detection.
A recent fundraiser on November 15 MC’d by Hamish Blake in support of the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP) brought together the local real estate industry and community, its latest fundraising total sits at $265,634.
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ANZUP Fundraiser on November 15. Hamish Blake (MC), Charlie Davies, Dr Samantha Oakes (CEO, ANZUP) and Prof Peter Grimison.
“My oncologist who is at the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse he is one of the main testicular oncologists around the world and he leads a lot of clinical trials and chemotherapy trials for people with metastatic disease which is often quite hard to treat,” Mr Davies said.
“I have a big focus to raise money to help that cause and for the for that five per cent of people who are left untreated and get a better outcome for them.
“If there is enough awareness around for young blokes to go and get a check-up and pushing for a scan, you should never be in that position to be in that five per cent.”
Mr Davies is focused on encouraging young men to get checked before it’s too late.
“If I didn’t get misdiagnosed the year before, then I probably would have never had to go through the chemotherapy, I never ever thought it could be cancer,” he said.
“It’s just one of those things that I think every young man should know.
“If something is not right down there then it’s definitely better to get it checked and be on the safe side.”
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