Comets captain, coach and volunteer Soares is in the midst of an aggressive round of chemotherapy to treat testicular cancer.

“All of that from being concussed – maybe its good I got concussed, I would never have got it checked out,” he said with a smile. To say it was a shock diagnosis is an understatement.

But the 29-year-old, who played for Leichhardt before joining Comets five years ago, where he’s been ever since, has taken his life’s upheaval as well in his stride as he possibly can.

“As much as I just want to be a sook and complain, stuff that, I’ve got heaps of people behind me, supporting me and showing me love,” Soares said. “It helps me be positive and have a good outlook.”

And Soares is using his experience to call on other men to “suck up their egos and pride” and get checked.

SOARES NAMED AMONG FNQ’S TOP 30 UNDER 30

THE DIAGNOSIS

This is how a routine check-up after a concussion from a pre-season game changed Soares’s life.

It’s not some of piece of incredible, groundbreaking tool science has recently discovered that opened the door, not at all. It was honestly answering one routine question doctors ask that so often goes ignored.

“I went to get the weekly check to see if I had recovered from the concussion,” Soares said.

“They ask the typical questions like how you’re feeling, stuff like that. Just before it ended, after I got the checks done, I was pretty much getting cleared and she asked if there was anything else I’d like to bring up.

“I’ve had this pain in my chest for a long time, but every time I addressed it the doctors were like ‘you’re young and healthy’ and that made sense, it hadn’t given me too much trouble.

“The doctor I had – I made sure I had a new one, different perspectives – and she said we can check it out. They did a scan and they found a big mass in my chest.”

The find shocked Soares and rocked his family, but the talented midfielder or striker kept his eyes forward and focused on the next goal.

It meant a few more scans, a biopsy and with time, the picture became a bit clearer.

“They had some other assumptions … one said an aneurysm and I thought surely not, I’ve been playing football with this feeling in my chest for a bit now, and if it was an aneurysm it would have burst,” he said.

“They told me not to train so I didn’t. It could be an infection or a tumour and I thought this is new … I didn’t expect a tumour, it hadn’t given me much trouble.

“A lot of blood tests, other scans and stuff, then they put me in for a biopsy. I asked the surgeon what he thought, and he said ‘I’m going to be straight up with you right now. You’re going to need chemo right away, I’ve seen this enough to know it’s definitely a tumour’.”

Soares wasn’t disheartened.

“I think he thought I was going to get upset and crying but didn’t, I was more like ‘shit, thanks’,” Soares said.

“I like when they’re honest and straight up, you don’t have to think of anything else other than what’s in front of you.

“They thought it was lymphoma first, and I thought ‘heaps of people had survived, it’s common, and a high success rate for treatment’.”

Soares was diagnosed with testicular cancer, but while he satisfied a number of markers – one test said he was pregnant – it is not what one would consider a typical case.

The mass presented in Soares’s chest – there’s nothing found in his pelvic region, which is where testicular cancer is generally found.

The finding stumped doctors, who said, once treated and removed, it could present as something now but blood tests have been consistent with testicular cancer.

“It doesn’t make sense because it generates from the testicles,” Soares said. “They said this was very unusual as they don’t have cases like this, where it’s not in the area it’s supposed to be. It doesn’t make sense. You only hear of other people getting it or people around you, you never think it will be you yourself. Especially with how well I’d carried on with life. It was a bit of a shock. It can happen to anyone.”

THE IMPACT

No amount of reading or prior education could properly prepare Soares for how he would be affected by his chemotherapy treatment. Here was a fit guy who played in the region’s highest level of competition, coached numerous teams and players across the Comets club and the Brisbane Roar’s skills training centre who now couldn’t guarantee he’d make it anywhere near a venue he proudly calls a second home.

“I was thinking I’d be fine,” Soares said. “I didn’t know the extent of how heavy chemo is and what impact.

“I’d read about it, been told about it through all of the doctors appointments when they’re trying to get you ready for it, but mentally, you can’t prepare for it until you go through it.

“I had no expectation of how hard it’d hit. I get a lot of messages from people. On days I’m bedridden and I look at my phone and it’s like … damn. You read something someone said, something someone’s done, or something going on here, can’t help but think I’m so lucky to have the support I have. Everyone is getting around you.”

He has lived with his parents since, and with a support network which includes brothers Zeca, who also plays for Comets, and Macauly, who lives in Melbourne, his extended family and the wider community.

It was in March he was told he’d start chemotherapy, and he’s closer to the end than the start of this round.

“What I’m doing now is enough – if it’s not gone, it’s small enough to surgically remove,” he said. “After that, I don’t where I go from there but hopefully that’s it – fingers crossed.”

CHECK YOURSELF

If there is anything Soares wants others to take out of his battle, it’s that they need to take care of themselves.

“I’ve had heaps of guys come up saying I’ve had this but never got checked, but now they are,” he said.

“If you feel anything is not right, get it checked. If it’s cleared and you still don’t feel right, get a second opinion, a third opinion, until someone puts in the time to see what it might be. Someone might take that extra step.” For Soares, those doctors not only unlocked the answer to what was a mysterious pain but have put him on the long road to recovery.

THE SUPPORT

THE Far North football community has come out in force to support one of their own.

Since Dylan Soares was diagnosed with testicular cancer, a number of number raffles and fundraisers have been run – and not all by his beloved Southside Comets.

Stratford lent their support last week, and other clubs have offered to or held fundraisers for Soares.

“It hasn’t just been Comets, it’s the whole football community who have gotten behind me,” Soares said.

“No matter the club, no matter the differences people have had, whether they liked me or not, everyone has come together as a big community to support me.

“It’s so humbling, it makes me feel so grateful for the football community, not just Comets. I wish it didn’t take something like this to bring everyone together, but its satisfying when everyone is together.”

On Wednesday, Comets president Kieran O’Brien and FQPL Far North and Gulf administrator Alex Srhoj were among those to get their heads shaved at Walker Road Sporting Precinct, Southside’s home ground.

“I feel emotional sometimes as the gesture of guys getting behind me, I feel they are on the journey with me, I’m not on my own,” Soares said.

“Even if it is just shaving a head, I feel like I’m not in this on my own.”

Southside will host Derby4Dylan on Saturday, with games against South Cairns rivals Leichhardt providing the backdrop for one of the club’s most meaningful fundraisers.

Soares said he would try to attend the games, to not only support the team he coaches, the Under-13s, and the club he loves, but to thank those who have shown their support to him.

“I want to try to, it will be hard as I get fatigued quickly,” he said.

“Everyone is here for the support so I want to be here as much as I can.”

matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au