THE last thing Todd Marshall expected at the age of 20 was to be diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer.

"I realised I had a lump but was too stubborn to go to the doctors and the missus ended up dragging me along,” he said.

"A week later I got the ultrasound done and a week and-a-half later they told me 'you got cancer',” he said.

The diagnosis came as a total shock to Mr Marshall.

"It's not something you think about as a 20-year- old bloke - you are meant to be in the prime of your life,” he said.

"It really turns your whole world upside down. I couldn't say anything, I was absolutely speechless.

"And then it took me a couple of days to process it and work out what to do.”

Mr Marshall was forced to quit his job and go back to live with his parents while he underwent treatment.

"I had three months worth of very intensive chemo for eight or nine hours a day,”he explained.

After the initial surgery to remove the cancerous growth Mr Marshall was presented with odds on the likelihood of the cancer returning.

"I was pretty lucky, I had good statistics,” he said.

Every three months in the first year after chemotherapy, Mr Marshall returned to the hospital for chest x-rays and a white cell blood count.

He said being diagnosed with a terminal illness had changed the way he lived his life.

"I take each day as it is and enjoy it a lot more. I tend to not put up with as much as I used to in regard to feuds between friends,” he said.

Mr Marshall's message to cancer sufferers struggling to lift themselves from the darkness of despair was simple. "You can't let go of hope. You have got to live every day as it is and enjoy the time with your family and friends,” he said.