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A routine doctor’s checkup saved the life of a Brisbane retiree after an aggressive and rare tumour weighing 2kg was found in his liver.

Father-of-three Barrie Tibbetts had no symptoms when he went to see his general practitioner but Dr Kerrie Hulett noticed his liver function test results were “slightly abnormal”.

Tibbetts had a liver condition many years ago which sparked alarm bells so Hulett organised an ultrasound which showed a major mass.

“I was non-symptomatic, I couldn’t believe it,” Tibbetts said.

The 67-year-old was rushed to Mater Private hospital in Brisbane to remove the 15cm aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma tumour.

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“I had more scans just before having surgery and the mass had become so large it was creeping up into my diaphragm,” Tibbetts said. Without surgery, he would have died.

The tumour weighing nearly 2kg which was removed from Barrie Tibbetts’ liver. Photograph: Mater Private hospital/AAP

Surgeon Joel Lewin said: “It is hard to know how long that would take but it was likely growing quite quickly, likely months.”

The delicate surgery took six hours in July with Lewin making a large incision in the abdomen instead of keyhole surgery due to the size of the tumour.

“The tumour occupied the majority of the right side of the liver, making surgical resection challenging,” Lewin said.

The type of cancer affects about five in every 100,000 people. Tibbett’s tumour was the largest Lewin had removed.

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Tibbetts was making a full recovery after surgery with his three-monthly imaging revealing a positive prognosis.

He was looking forward to travelling around Australia with his wife, Leslie, in a new camper van.

“After getting the good news just a few weeks ago, we thought this would be a nice way to celebrate,” Tibbetts said this week.

An MRI scan of Barrie Tibbetts’ rare tumour. Photograph: Mater Private hospital/AAP

A report from Movember in July warned that men were less likely to have a trusting relationship with a health professional and, as a result, may miss out on preventive health advice.

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