Hair-raising warning beats cancer
A Christchurch man who had a close shave with cancer credits a haircut for his early diagnosis.
Dennis Parker was at Amala Organic Hair Spa in January when regular hairdresser Nadia Gallo noticed a lump on the right side of his neck.
He thought nothing of it at first but a month later noticed it was still there and decided to get it checked.
Days after the keen road cyclist won his age category in Le Race – a bike race between Christchurch and Akaroa – the biopsy results came back.
‘‘My doctor said: I’m sorry to tell you but it’s cancer. I had this awful weight, because knowing you’ve got cancer you imagine all kinds of things.’’
Parker said he was fit and healthy for his age, so the diagnosis came as a shock.
‘‘When I talk about having cancer I still feel like I’m talking about someone else.’’
Further tests revealed the primary source of the cancer was his tonsils.
In June, Parker underwent a four-hour surgical procedure to have them and the tumour in his neck removed.
The operation proved successful. The 67-year-old said it was initially painful to eat, drink, speak and swallow, but in six weeks he was back on the bike.
‘‘Fortunately, it looks like they’ve removed the tumours and the likelihood of me getting cancer in the future has been reset to the same as the general population,’’ he said.
Parker thanked Gallo with flowers. He thought he would have picked up on the cancer eventually but credited her comment for helping catch it early.
‘‘I’m so thrilled that I was able to help, and that’s exactly why I tell people,’’ Gallo said. The salon had a non-chemical, nontoxic focus and that attracted a number of customers diagnosed with cancer, she said.
‘‘I see people coming through who have progressed cancer and there’s nothing you can do, so if I see anything small or abnormal I’m going to tell people. ‘‘You never know, do you?’’ Parker, a past winner of numerous cycling events, said he wanted to use his experience to raise awareness of cancer and the importance of getting anything suspect checked early.
While a medal-bid at the UCI Granfondo World Championships in Italy this year was scuppered by his diagnosis, he was training to regain his competitive edge.
Parker raced in his first event since surgery in early November, and on December 1 will take part in the Urology Associates Movember Car Park Cannon Ball. The event, which was held for the first time last year, involves cyclists racing up eight floors of the innovation precinct parking building in central Christchurch.
It aims to raise awareness of men’s health issues and to raise funds for Movember to address issues like prostate and testicular cancer.