Steven Hamill said he was 26 when doctors first treated his symptoms as an infection.
LIVERPOOL, England — Steven Hamill, a British father who was diagnosed with penile cancer at 26, is describing the symptoms and surgeries that led doctors to remove about four inches of his penis.
Hamill, now in his 30s, shared his account during recent media interviews after appearing on ITV’s “This Morning.” His case drew attention because penile cancer is rare and is more often diagnosed in older men. Hamill said his early symptoms were first treated as balanitis, an inflammation or infection of the head of the penis, before doctors later found an aggressive cancer that had damaged tissue and required more extensive surgery.
Hamill said the first sign came in 2019, when he woke up and noticed major swelling. He said he initially ignored it, hoping it would clear on its own. The situation changed after a sudden bleed at home. “I looked down, and it was just blood everywhere,” Hamill said during the television interview. He later saw a doctor and said he was told it could not be penile cancer because of his age. He said he left with a diagnosis of a severe case of balanitis and a steroid cream.
The bleeding slowed, but the pain became worse, Hamill said. He described the feeling as constant and severe, saying it felt like a needle pressing into the same place again and again. About a month later, he said, he passed out in his brother’s car after another heavy bleed. He still attended his sister’s wedding the next day while trying to manage the pain. After seeing a urologist, he was referred to a cancer hospital. Doctors first planned a circumcision, but Hamill said he woke up from that operation and was told the cancer damage was worse than expected.
Hamill said doctors told him the cancer had eaten into the tissue and left what he described as a large crater. He said surgeons then prepared him for a more serious operation to remove the affected area while saving as much tissue as possible. The procedure removed the end of the penis and about four inches of tissue, according to Hamill’s account. He said doctors warned him that his life would change sharply after surgery. He also said the cancer was aggressive enough that some surgeons feared he might not survive it.
The case later became part of Hamill’s public effort to talk about a cancer that many men have never heard of. Cancer Research UK says penile cancer accounts for less than 1% of new cancer cases in the United Kingdom, with about 820 new cases each year. The group says about one-third of new cases are diagnosed in men 75 and older. Macmillan Cancer Support lists possible signs as a growth or sore, raised or thickened skin, color changes, discharge, bleeding, pain, or a lump under the foreskin.
Medical groups say treatment depends on where the cancer is found and whether it has spread. Smaller or early cancers may be treated with more limited surgery, medicines or other procedures. Larger cancers often require surgery, and some patients need a partial or total penectomy. Hamill said his operation left him physically changed but still able to have sex and later become a father. He said dating and relationships have required more communication, but he described his life after treatment as better in some ways because it changed how he thinks about health and intimacy.
Hamill also has spoken about the public response to his story. He said some people online have mocked him and used the nickname “Stumpy,” but he has tried to answer those comments by pointing back to the disease. He said the jokes can be cruel, but they also mean more people have heard that penile cancer exists. His recent interviews focused less on the surgery itself than on the years of recovery that followed, including fear, embarrassment, parenting and learning how to discuss the condition with partners.
Seven years after the 2019 diagnosis, Hamill is in remission and continues to speak publicly about the case. His story has renewed attention on a rare cancer, a delayed diagnosis and the physical and emotional effects of surgery.
Author note: Last updated May 9, 2026.