Rotorua family farewells promising league player

Former Rotorua man and promising league player Martin Bartle has lost his battle with testicular cancer - a cancer he thought was curable.

The 21-year-old, who was born in Rotorua and attended Rotorua's Selwyn Primary and Te Puke High School, died last Saturday surrounded by his parents and eight younger siblings. He was farewelled at a funeral in Perth on Thursday.

His body was to be brought back to New Zealand today for a service at Paruaharanui Marae at Mourea on Monday.

Mr Bartle, who had been living in Perth, was diagnosed with testicular cancer last November after returning from a Maori league tournament in Rotorua where he had represented Western Australia.

Speaking from Perth this week, Mr Bartle's mother Melody Taylor said her son had the flu and went to see a doctor and was put on antibiotics. After they failed to work, x-rays showed a tumour on his lungs. Further tests revealed the primary cancer was testicular. Five days later Mr Bartle started receiving aggressive treatment.

Ms Taylor said the treatment involved a lot of complications and infections but by January he was in remission.

"We thought he had won the battle."

He had tests every month and at the end of April doctors found the cancer had returned.

"It was in his lungs and it had also travelled to his brain. It was scary all over again."

Early last month Mr Bartle was preparing to have his right testicle removed but had a major seizure. He was flown to Sir Charles Hospital where a tumour was removed from his brain.

Chemotherapy was due to start but then he had bleeding to the brain and had further surgery on Monday last week.

Ms Taylor said they took him home on Wednesday. Ms Taylor and the rest of the family never really understood how serious her son's condition was until Friday last week when they had a family meeting with the doctors.

"It was: 'Oh God, we could lose our boy'." The family talked about chemotherapy, radiation and stem cell treatment for Mr Bartle.

Doctors said they would start chemotherapy treatment the next day but Ms Taylor was told that if her son had another bleed to the brain it would be too dangerous for them to operate. Ms Taylor slept next to her son that night and by early Saturday morning he was non-responsive. He'd had another bleed to the brain and doctors told the family there was nothing more they could do for him.

"They took the tubes out and he lived for 10 hours."

His father was able to fly to Perth to be with him and he died surrounded by his family.

"He just slipped away while we were singing."

Ms Taylor said she hoped her son's cancer served as a reminder to men, particularly those aged between 18 and 40, to get themselves checked.

She said her son had said to her a few days before his death that he recalled being told when he was first diagnosed that testicular cancer was curable. However, Ms Taylor said they had also been told testicular cancer was curable if it was caught early, before it spread to other parts of the body. Ms Taylor said she had told her son how proud she was of him as he had never complained or "hated the world" for what he had been through. "He said: 'Mum, you can't change it, I've got it and I'm just going to get better' ... Up until last week he thought he would recover."

The funeral service for Mr Bartle at Paruaharanui Marae will be on Monday at 11am.

Men's Health Week is June 10-16. See menshealthweek.co.nz.