Auckland man shares bucket list dreams after decades of battling cancer

A man given just months to live after a decades-long cancer fight is hoping to achieve a bucket list of memories, including getting a full-body tattoo in Bali.

Otāhuhu-based dog-walking business owner Jeffrey Thumath, 41, told the Herald he was first diagnosed with testicular cancer at 17 while he was an athletics record holder and national representative.

Since then, he has endured a long and difficult journey with countless treatments.

He recently discovered his cancer had spread to both lungs and become active again in his spine.

“When you get hit with something so hard like that, it kind of makes you think what’s important,” he said.

Jeff’s wife Cara said on Givealittle they were recently told there were no further funded treatment options available, so they were exploring private options.

She said they were also hoping to raise funds to make as many “precious memories” together as possible.

One of their wishes was to re-celebrate their wedding with friends and family who couldn’t make it during Covid.

Diagnosis and symptoms

On average, about 180 Kiwis are diagnosed with testicular cancer every year, according to Testicular Cancer NZ.

Jeff urged younger men to get checked after he was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer just after his 17th birthday in 2002.

The active teenager was experiencing hip and lower back pain and had undergone scans to figure out the cause.

Looking back, he said he was also experiencing a loss of appetite and energy and a lesser-known symptom, sore nipples.

Jeff said he had been having hot baths to ease the pain, and it wasn’t until his mother walked in on him one day that his life changed forever.

“Mum had actually accidentally walked in on me getting changed and noticed the mass on my testicle, and she said, ‘That’s not right.’”

His mother convinced him to go to A&E and from then on he said the day was a “blur”.

He was diagnosed and promptly scheduled for an operation and biopsy the following day in Auckland Hospital before he started chemotherapy a few weeks later.

“From memory, the doctor said had I left it another two weeks, I probably would have been stage four and not here. That’s how quickly it can spread.”

Jeff said the treatment worked well, stating it was the “best cancer to have for males” because the treatment’s success rate was high.

A few months later, when he was lying down, he noticed the right side of his stomach was higher than the left.

After an oncology appointment, he discovered he had developed a teratoma, a non-cancerous tumour that may contain bone, hair, teeth and other types of tissue.

“We did an operation which was pretty dangerous because where it was, it was basically covering the main blood vessel that gives you the main supply of blood into your whole body,” he said.

Throughout this period, he was still able to compete at a high level in athletics and attend school.

Jeff said over the past 25 years he has had countless scans and about 13 surgeries, many of those being for teratoma cells.

‘We might as well enjoy our life’

In 2023, he was experiencing hip and back pain that migrated into his groin area, which he eventually discovered was a tumour in his back.

“That was a bit of a shock because we didn’t realise it was there because it was quite deep and close to the spine.”

He said since 2024 his situation had started to become “tough”. He began to experience side effects from chemotherapy, including neuropathy.

“I got to the point where I couldn’t feel the bottoms of my feet, so that’s why they stopped [the drug], because I was literally falling over,” Jeff said.

After multiple cycles of chemo and rounds of radiation for his spine and lung, his scans showed his tumours were small, and it was “looking good”.

Last year, more scans were done, and he was told it had come back and he was given a prognosis of one to five years.

In recent weeks, he was told fluid had built up in his right lung, and he was given an updated prognosis of months to many months.

“They’ve not seen anything like this either. Going from testicular cancer to then having these teratoma cells to now having another cancer,” he said.

Jeff said he has since exhausted publicly funded treatment options, so they decided to move in with his parents to help them afford private treatment.

“In the meantime, we’re also being realistic and going, ‘Okay, well if it doesn’t work then we’re not going to waste time’. We might as well enjoy our life as well,” he said.

Jeff said it had been a difficult few years with about seven deaths close to the family as well as grieving future IVF plans because of his prognosis.

“It’s grief after grief after grief and trying to deal with everything on top of it. It’s just like ‘okay when’s something good going to happen?’”

Bucket list

On Givealittle, Cara said Jeff had put together a bucket list of things he would love to experience.

“I would absolutely love to give Jeff the rest of his life doing the things he loves and making the most incredible memories together,” she said.

The adventurous list included getting a full-body tattoo in Bali, driving a Lamborghini, rotary or drift car and sledding with huskies.

Some of his other wishes included travelling through Europe, Japan and Asia and gambling in Vegas.

Because of his passion for dogs, he hoped to visit a wolf sanctuary and take their dogs to the snow.