Guitarist thanks fans after cancer all-clear

A 25-year-old guitarist from Greater Manchester who got the all-clear after a year of cancer treatment has praised "amazing" fan support.

Sam Birchall has been the lead guitarist in four-piece indie band, The Lilacs, since 2018. But the Wigan band was forced to postpone their upcoming tour last year when Sam was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 24.

When Sam's cancer spread he became the first person in Europe to have a lymph node removal operation and go home on the same day. And last week he rang the bell and confirmed to fans that he was cancer free.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester Sam said, "The support since posting the video has been amazing - if you're out there, thank you."

Sam is a founding members of up-and-coming indie band, The Lilacs, and was preparing for a UK-wide tour when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in February 2025.

"I went to the doctors as soon as I noticed that things weren't right and it turned out to be cancer," he said.

"It was a bit of a shock to be honest"

"I just wasn't really sure how it was gonna go to be fair, as cancer always is and it was a big surprise.

"We had quite a lot booked in with tours and gigs and stuff so it's just first of all the panic of you know of work.

"It [cancer] causes so much interruption to your day-to-day life you know and not being able to gig, not being able to work, it was it was tough."

Sam said the diagnosis felt "ironic", as the band had been named after the The Lilac Centre cancer treatment centre, in Mersey, where his mum had died of the disease.

Sam initially had an operation at his local hospital to remove his testicle - but after scans showed the cancer had spread to some of his abdominal lymph nodes, he had 3 cycles of chemotherapy at The Christie.

After his chemotherapy ended in September, further tests showed some of his lymph nodes were still enlarged - meaning he would he need an operation to remove them.

Sam told BBC Radio Manchester he felt that the hospital had "smashed it".

"My surgeon, Mr Aziz Gulamhusein, was very straight with me that my case was complicated, as some of the lymph nodes were pressing up against major blood vessels," Sam explained.

"It was scary, but I have always felt in very safe hands at The Christie, and this was no different."

"I had a robotic operation, which generally has a much shorter recovery time than open surgery, but I never expected to leave hospital the same day.

"[But] at the end of the day, I was feeling pretty good.

"I decided that I wanted to go home."

Doctors at the Christie told Sam he was the first person, probably in the whole of Europe, to be able to do that.

Sam's bandmate, Ollie Anglesea, recalled the moment when Sam told them the news of his diagnosis, at a show in Bury.

"He's our best mate before he is our band member," Ollie told BBC Radio Manchester. "I thought 'God, I hope he's alright.'"

He said "it hasn't been easy" for the band to perform without Sam this year.

"It's not been the same without him," Ollie said.

"To see him ring the bell last week was an emotional thing for myself, Jono and Dave in the band as well.

"And I know it's been the same for all the fans out there.

"Because I think since Sam's been back gigging, there's been a lot of tears shed at every show.

"There's a lot of support for him out there."

Sam said: "Being a little bit in the public eye and doing a lot of gigs, I wanted to be open about it and try to show as much awareness as we could.

"So it was quite emotional we got it out to the fans and the amount of support we got back was absolutely amazing."

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