Nathan Adrian, Olympic Swimmer, Diagnosed With Testicular Cancer

Olympian Nathan Adrian has revealed that he has testicular cancer. The 30-year-old swimmer, who has five gold medals, shared the news on Instagram on Thursday, January 24.

Adrian uploaded three photos from his hospital room on the social media site. He is wearing an ugly green hospital gown but has a smile on his face as he tries to remain positive at this difficult time.

In the first shot, he is posing with his wife of four months, Hallie Ivester. The second photo is a wider shot where his 319,000 followers can see that he is hooked up to an IV. His mother, Cecilia, sits beside his bed in support of the youngest of her three children. In the last picture, Adrian displays his sense of humor as he is holding a purple rubber glove that he has blown up with air and drawn a smiley face on.

In the caption, the Bremerton, Washington, native explained that he went to see his doctor because “something didn’t seem quite right.” After several tests and visits to a specialist, he received the awful testicular cancer diagnosis.

“On the bright side, we caught it early, I have already started treatment and the prognosis is good,” he stated.

The University of California, Berkeley, graduate then joked that because of his current situation, he will be putting his public health degree “to work a little sooner” than planned by sharing his “journey in an effort to help break the stigma of discussing men’s health issues.”

“But in all seriousness, I am keeping a positive attitude as cases such as mine are curable,” Adrian said.

He ended the post by thanking his family and friends, and revealing that he will have surgery to remove the cancer next week and will update fans when he can.

Adrian has competed in the last three summer Olympic games — 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, and 2016 in Rio — as a member of the U.S. swim team. He holds a total of eight medals from the competitions: five gold, one silver, and two bronze.

In his Instagram post, the 6-foot, 6-inch tall athlete said that he “will be back in the water in a few short weeks” as he needs to continue training for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which he fully intends on competing in.

“I just want to swim fast, that’s all. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. That’s what’s fun about swimming,” he previously said, according to USA Today.