“Pretty hard to deal with”- Australia’s Nic Maddinson on his battle with testicular cancer

Australia batter Nic Maddinson has opened up about his battle with testicular cancer and affects that the diagnosis had on him. He spent the majority of 2025 dealing with this issue and is looking at making a comeback to cricket. 

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Maddinson, who hasn't played cricket since being sacked from the Blues at the conclusion of last summer, had surgery to remove a tumour shortly after. He then received word that the cancer had spread.

"Once I found out I had to have chemo, that was pretty hard to deal with. It had spread to parts of my abdominal lymph nodes and lung. That was a bit where it was pretty daunting,” he told Nine newspapers.

At the same time, Maddinson's wife Bianca was pregnant with their second child, Wilder, who arrived just a few weeks ago. The 33-year-old began nine weeks of chemotherapy in mid-May.

"By the second or third week, I lost all my hair. I was feeling pretty average. I was taking types of steroids to manage side effects, but they would keep me up at night … I’d sleep until about 1am, but sometimes I’d then be awake until 6am. I found that difficult. I was super drained and felt like I had to sleep 24/7. It was the slowest and longest nine weeks,” he added.

Maddinson had his first nets session at Cricket NSW's headquarters at Olympic Park two weeks after his chemotherapy ended in mid-July, but it was his only session for a month. 

After learning that the therapy was effective in September, he was able to start preparing to return to cricket. Yesterday, the handsome left-hander enjoyed a center-wicket session with several other members of the NSW squad.

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"To know that I caught it probably as early as I could have, and it still spread into other parts of my body, that was scary. I just think it's so important if you have anything you're worried about, get it checked out,” Maddinson signed off.

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