Death by Leaflet — Toby Freeman On Why Cancer Awareness For Young People Is So Hard. Not What You Say But How You Say It...Or Silence.

2026-04-07

Toby Freeman founded the Robin Cancer Trust at 22 after losing his brother Rob to testicular cancer. Rob was 24, fit, healthy, and had been to the doctors multiple times. Sadly no-one connected the dots until it was too late. What followed was fourteen years of talking — loudly, honestly, sometimes in a giant testicle costume — about the things young people aren't told and the conversations that don't happen. Fertility. Financial toxicity. The leaflet handed over when there's no time for anyth...

What followed was fourteen years of talking — loudly, honestly, sometimes in a giant testicle costume — about the things young people aren't told and the conversations that don't happen. Fertility. Financial toxicity. The leaflet handed over when there's no time for anything else. And how leaflets are almost a guaranteed failure if you're trying to message young people - unless you're creative. The postcode lottery that determines whether a young person gets the right support at the worst moment of their life.

Toby pushed back on me when I said awareness was a waste of time. And yes, he was absolutely right to. But what he said next - that's the thing worth hearing.

This is Episode 50 of #CancerCanDoOne.

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How to contact Toby and find out more about support for young people.

Robin Cancer Trust