I’m an ordinary bloke, trying to work out how to live my life without a penis
Tooting, is Europe’s leading medical institute dealing with penile cancer.
There, his surgeon, Dr Ben Ayres, confirmed amputation was necessary, but he was able to save a tiny portion of his penis. Richard says: “I remember before the operation, thinking, ‘I’m going to run away.’ Then the realisation is where am I going to run to? If I don’t do this, I’m going to die.
“Maybe it sounds crazy if you’re not a bloke, but living without a penis makes you question who you are.
“I was just a normal bloke before all this happened – an Arsenal supporter, a father of two who enjoyed a beer with his mates. Then one day I was told by a doctor that my penis had to be removed. Since then I’ve been trying to work out how I survive without a c**k. How I live, work, have sex and go to the toilet, how to be a bloke without having a penis.
“I’m really angry I let it get that far. I feel a complete fool. I could kick myself because I could have saved it.”
One of the main questions Richard is often asked is whether he can still have sex, and he wasted no time finding out. But he admits that being intimate has been a new challenge. He says: “I was grateful I could still orgasm, but then I had to work out how to do that with a partner, how to share my new body with someone. “But some women don’t mind.” Richard is now on a mission to return his manhood to its former glory. He says: “I’ve been on a journey to see what the world has to offer, plastic ones, prosthetic ones, even ones grown in laboratories.”
He concludes: “I’m going to go for reconstruction. The process is due to start in February.” Richard has met his new surgeon, Prof David Ralph from University College Hospital in London.
The reconstruction requires three 13-hour surgeries. Doctors will remove flesh from his arm and bottom to form his new penis, an implant will be placed inside and then a pump will be installed in his scrotum to give him an erection at the touch of a button.
He smiles: “It’s weird. I want it to feel like me, not an object. I’m a bit scared, it’s like something off Doctor Who from the 70s.
“I’m going through the mental thought process of building myself up
RICHARD STAMP ON NOT GETTING PENIS CHECKED
to do this. Ever since my first operation, I’ve been taking things weeks at a time, that’s all I can do.”
The documentary is a warts-and-all look at what happens when you don’t listen to your body. Richard is now a speaker for the men’s cancer charity, Orchid, and he hopes that people will learn from his costly mistake.
He says: “It’s sort of inbred in men, isn’t it, to be tough? Not talk about stuff, just get on with it. Toughen up, be a man. It’s such a taboo thing to talk about and to experience, and when I found I had penile cancer, I had no idea it even existed.
“So the message to every man watching this documentary is if there’s something up, get it checked. If you’ve got a girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever, hopefully you’ll be able to talk to them.
“If you’re on your own, then talk to a friend. The main thing is you must talk to someone. Don’t stick your head in the sand like I did.”
■ Shopping For A New Penis is on Channel 5 on Thursday at 10pm.
I’m angry I let it go that far, I’m a complete fool. I could have saved it