West Ham United is raising awareness of male cancers in memory of the late Dylan Tombides, who would have celebrated his 29th birthday on Wednesday, at Sunday's Premier League fixture with Aston Villa.
The charity, which has been raising awareness of the disease in partnership with West Ham United since 2015, takes centre stage at London Stadium today to help men and boys take control of their testicular health.
At DT38 Awareness Day, we pay tribute to Dylan Tombides with applause on the 38th minute, in recognition of his squad number at West Ham United.
The Hammers Academy of Football icon lost a long and brave battle with testicular cancer on 18 April 2014 at the age of 20.
If Dylan had been given the correct diagnosis by doctors in the early stages of testicular cancer and he had been offered an ultrasound scan, it is expected that his football career would now be flourishing.
The striker – who represented Australia up to U23 level – was destined for international stardom according to former Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak, a Patron of DT38 Foundation.
In a career cut tragically short, Dylan was given his first-team debut at West Ham United by Sam Allardyce in 2012, and he was tipped by Tony Carr for a bright future in football at the highest level.
Dylan is remembered with great warmth at West Ham United with both Declan Rice and Mark Noble taking on Ambassadorship roles for the charity.
DT38 Foundation was set up by the Tombides family in 2015 and is a Principal Charity Partner of West Ham United.
At the heart of DT38’s work is the importance of men and boys learning to check themselves every month for any signs of abnormality.
Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer among young men in the world and early detection can increase the chances of survival up to 95 per cent.
If symptoms are discovered early enough, the disease is treatable.
To raise awareness, the first-team squad wore DT38 Foundation t-shirts in training at Rush Green on Saturday.
DT38 is also in partnership with West Ham United Foundation to educate young people in schools about the importance of wellbeing and has also organised several drop-in Ultrasound Scan events.
Around 2,400 men in the UK alone are diagnosed with testicular cancer every year, ranging from babies as young as six months to men in their 70s.
For more information about how to check yourself for signs of testicular cancer, click here.
