AFF Championship: Malaysia’s Brendan Gan back on the pitch after overcoming cancer

January 02, 2023 5:30 PMBUKIT JALIL – Before a ball has been kicked in Tuesday’s Causeway Derby, Malaysia midfielder Brendan Gan is already a winner. In July 2021, he revealed his early-stage testicular cancer diagnosis, underwent surgery and treatment, and had to put his football career on hold. Gan told the New Straits Times: “It was a shock to me... I was speechless for five to 10 minutes. I found a small lump, and I decided to investigate it. I went to a urologist, and he said everything was fine. However, I decided on getting a second opinion. “I looked after myself and stayed healthy, so it was hard. My wife and son were in Australia then. I had to go through the process myself. But the support I received from everyone was amazing. “Coming back from that, I thought it was going to be like a muscle injury, but it was a different challenge with many setbacks. It was a rollercoaster emotionally and physically.” Remarkably, less than a year later, the Selangor skipper recovered. He returned to the pitch in June and scored a brace in a 7-0 Malaysian Super League win over Sarawak. The 34-year-old even did well enough to earn a national team recall just three months later. Now, as one of their three co-captains, he is one of the first names in Tigers coach Kim Pan-gon’s starting XI at the ongoing AFF Championship, in which they need to avoid defeat by Singapore to progress into the semi-finals.