Top architect issues warning over virus

BAYDEN Goddard spent months trying to keep a battle with throat cancer under wraps.

Now the award-winning architect wants to tell the world in a bid to protect his sons’ generation from the threat posed by human papillomavirus (HPV).

“I was really conscious it could hurt my practice,” the 49-year-old father of three said of a diagnosis in January that led to him having revolutionary surgery, enduring six weeks of radiation and losing a fifth of his weight.

“Who is going to use an architect that may not see out the project? I knew (the prognosis) wasn’t that bad but people are funny. I kept my cards really close to my chest.

“Now I’ve got the all-clear, I don’t want someone else to go through what I have.”

Since learning he was free of cancer, Goddard, who is responsible for about 10 houses on the prestigious Hedges-Albatross Ave strip, has turned his attention to educating teenage boys — and their parents — about the need to vaccinate against HPV as it can lead to life-threatening cancers for men as well as women.

“I’ve got a 17-year-old son and when it came time for him to be immunised for HPV, we baulked because we didn’t understand males could catch cancer from it as well,” he said.

“I didn’t even realise guys

got HPV. I thought it was about cervix cancer … we were quite blase and I know three or four other parents who made the same decision.

“I’d never heard of it but now we know the reality, we’re catching up our son’s immunisations and his 15-year-old brother will have them as well.”

Goddard has also urged men to take heed of warning signs when it comes to their health.

“I went on a boys’ trip last August and couldn’t even paddle into the surf,” he said.

“I’d never been a smoker, was relatively fit, so I did a heap of tests and nothing showed up ... I got fobbed off but you know when something is wrong.

“I then noticed a gland in my neck that just wouldn’t go away ... I ended up going to the doctor three times in five months. It just didn’t feel right.”

That persistence may have saved his life, with Dr Sam Dowthwaite using cuttingedge robotic technology to remove the cancer at Gold Coast Private Hospital.

“It was instant relief,” Goddard said.

NOW WE KNOW THE REALITY, WE’RE CATCHING UP OUR SON’S IMMUNISATIONS AND HIS 15-YEAR-OLD BROTHER WILL HAVE THEM AS WELL BAYDEN GODDARD

Picture: GLENN HAMPSON Architect Bayden Goddard, who has just been given the all-clear after a battle with throat cancer, with his son Max, 15, at his Isle of Capri home.