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Tuesday, 21 April 2009

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OMG! Ronan Keating: I thought I had cancer

Boyzone star thought he was going to die

Ronan Keating scaled Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief in March

Ronan Keating had a cancer scare while on a family holiday in December 2006.

The Boyzone star, 32, discovered a pea-sized lump in his left testicle during a trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

Ronan, whose mum Marie died from breast cancer in 1998, was convinced the benign cyst was bad news. 

'It was really scary,' he says. 'I thought I definitely had cancer. The lump felt very different and I knew straight away there was something there.

‘I had written myself off. I had the songs picked for my funeral and everything. Being a hypochondriac I feared the worst. It ruined the holiday.'

By opening up about his experience, Ronan hopes other men will start going for routine check-ups.

'Men are too proud,' he tells the Daily Mail. 'They don't want to get their testicles checked by some doctor and they won't see one if they do find something.

‘We need to get rid of the fear. It's the same situation women were in 15 years ago. They were afraid to have their breasts examined.'

Ronan is dad to Jack, 10, Missy, 8, and Ali, 3, with wife Yvonne, 35.