- 78-year-old chat show host has started intensive radiotherapy treatment
- Was diagnosed with the disease, UK's most common cancer, in May
- He has vowed to carry on working and says he feels 'lucky'
By Amanda Williams
|
Veteran broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson has today revealed he is battling prostate cancer.
The 78-year-old chat show host has started intensive radiotherapy treatment after being diagnosed during a routine check-up.
He has urged other men to get themselves checked as he launches a campaign to raise awareness of the disease.
Scroll down for video
Veteran broadcaster Sir Michael Parkinson - pictured here at Wimbledon with wife Mary - has revealed he is battling prostate cancer
He has urged other men to get themselves checked as he launches a campaign to raise awareness of the disease
He told the Sun: 'I have cancer ? and I must admit it is a bore. I am 78. Of course mortality is on the mind. But I?m not afraid.'
?
In an interview with the paper, during which he credited his wife Mary for her tremendous support and vowed to carry on working, he revealed he was first told he might have a problem during a routine check up.
Results from a PSA prostate test were abnormal.?
Michael Parkinson with Muhammad Ali on his BBC chatshow in 1981. The 78-year-old chat show host has started intensive radiotherapy treatment after being diagnosed during a routine check-up
Sir Michael with Paul MacCartney. He has urged other men to get themselves checked as he launches a campaign to raise awareness of the disease
Michael Parkinson with Meg Ryan on his BBC chat show. He has listed the interview as one of his 'most awkward TV moments'
The test measures the amount of Prostate Specific Antigen, a protein produced by the prostate gland and which can be detected in blood samples.
THE MOST COMMON CANCER IN UK
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.
More than 40,000 new cases diagnosed every year.
Symptoms often only become apparent when the prostate has become large enough to affect the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis).
They include an increased need to urinate, straining while urinating and a feeling your bladder has not fully emptied.
However, these signs may not be a sign of? prostate cancer.
It is more likely they are caused by something else, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (also known as BPH or prostate enlargement).
Higher-than-normal amounts can indicate the presence of cancer.
The prostate is a small gland in the pelvis found only in men. About the size of a walnut, it is located between the penis and the bladder. It surrounds the urethra, the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the penis.
Sir Michael was diagnosed with cancer in May and began treatment in at Cromwell Hospital in South Kensington, London, on Monday.
In a typically straight talking manner, he said the treatment was painless but 'boring', and Lasted around six minutes each time.
He said he was not 'playing down' the situation, adding: 'The point I want to make is that if prostate cancer is identifiable early, it is treatable and curable.'
He urged men to test themselves while urinating. He said if, while at a urinal, a man could not hit the wall from 2ft, they should get themselves checked by a doctor.
Prostate cancer claims the lives of more than 10,000 men in the UK every year yet, unlike breast cancer, there is no national screening programme for the disease.
Sir Michael is best known for his chat show Parkinson, which ran from 1971 to 1982 and 1998 to 2007.
In a career spanning 50 years, he has spoken to Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Orsen Welles, Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna and George Michael.
He is perhaps best known for ANawkward 2003 interview with actor Meg Ryan.
While he has called this his 'most difficult television moment', he said the most remarkable person he ever interviewed was the boxer Muhammad Ali.
Share or comment on this article
Beady Eye Eric Idle rory mcilroy Fatboy Slim Rio de Janeiro Shark Week London 2012 closing ceremony
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.