Thriller writer’s real-life drama

It was just as he was putting the finishing touches to his crime thriller that Steve Cage started to feel unwell.

“I started to get this pain in my lower back and my wife Julie would say that I was sitting funnily and I thought as I had been siting in front of the computer for eight or nine months writing my book that it was probably down to that,” explains Steve.

When the book, Now the Killing Starts, was finished Steve went to his GP.

“I know it is stupid but I didn’t want to go before in case in interrupted my writing of the book,” says Steve who is also a film producer, special effects expert and photographer.

His GP sent him for an ultrasound and the results stunned him.

“I was diagnosed with testicular cancer,” says the 49-year-old Huddersfield man.

“I was devastated, but everything moved so quickly that I really didn’t have time to think about it, which in hindsight was probably a good thing. I was very scared.”

Steve under went an operation to remove the testicle and then had an agonising wait for the results to see if the cancer had spread.

“Testicular cancer can spread through the lymphatic system, so they had to do all manner of tests to make sure it hadn’t spread. There are two forms of testicular cancer, aggressive and non-aggressive. I was lucky in the fact that mine was non-aggressive.”

Steve was treated with blasts of radiotherapy over a ten-day period which caused him excruciating pain. But now looking back two years he feels lucky to be alive.

“Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men and yet people don’t examine themselves or talk about it.”

This is one of the reasons that he along with his publishers have decided to donate £1 from each copy of his novel to the male cancer charity Everyman.

“My book is an action thriller, a bit like the type of film I would dearly love to make. It is aimed at men – probably aged 18 to 44 which is just the age group most at risk from testicular cancer and those most unlikely to check themselves on a regular basis. It was like divine intervention that the exact audience I was aiming at are those most at risk.

“I felt that as well as donating money to Everyman for research into testicular cancer, there was something that I could do to raise awareness of the condition and encourage men to talk about it.

“The brief I set myself was to think big, aim high, and re-invent the British crime-adventure thriller for the 21st century by upping the ante and aiming at ambitious Hollywood-style, fast-action stories with a ballsy, big screen energy. Think Robin Cook meets The Matrix meets Quentin Tarantino meets The Fast and the Furious – with some Bond-scale action set pieces and some Gerry Anderson SFX thrown in for good measure – and you’re halfway there.”

The foreword to Now the Killing Starts explains a bit about testicular cancer and why Steve decided to donate £1 from every book to the charity.

“A no-holds-barred, mass-market action thriller seemed like the ideal vehicle to grab the attention of as many guys – and girls – as possible. I say girls because it was my wife who urged me to examine myself properly when I sensed something was wrong.”

Now the Killing Starts is not Steve’s first novel. He has written more literary tomes and later this year he is publishing a book of his landscape photography of Britain, including many shots of Yorkshire.

“When you find out you’ve got cancer it’s pretty scary, you go into a dark place. When I came out of it I had the feeling that I wanted to help other people live.

“Testicular cancer is increasing, it’s doubled in the last 20 years and no-one knows why. More research needs to be done and proceeds from this book will help fund more research.”

* Now the Killing Starts by Steve Cage is published by Magnum (£7.99) and is available in WH Smith and Waterstones. To order a copy from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. Postage and packing is £2.75.

* www.stevecage.com

TESTIVULAR CANCER FACTS

Testicular cancer primarily affects younger men and is the most common form of cancer in men aged between 15 and 44.

The cancer is still quite rare, with nearly 2,000 new cases a year in the UK.

Since 1975, the incidence of testicular cancer has more than doubled – and the reasons for this are not yet known.

With advances in treatment, it is now 97 per cent curable. And that figure rises to 99 per cent curable if it’s caught in the early stages.

Testicular cancer causes around 70 deaths every year in the UK. www.everyman-campaign.org