Rhod Gilbert, a Welsh comedian, has received his first clear cancer scan since undergoing treatment. In July, the 55-year-old announced that he had the disease and was being treated at Cardiff’s Velindre Cancer Centre. He had surgery for metastatic cancer in his head and neck, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Rhod had been raising money for the Velindre Cancer Centre for a decade before he was diagnosed.
Gilbert said that discovering his cancer had not spread had been “the best day of my life”. “The best thing was that the tumour had gone, and it was once again an ordinary blood vessel,” he said.
Days before his initial treatment was set to begin, Gilbert, who had already been a fundraising patron for Velindre for a decade, approached a documentary team to film his experience. “It was all on spec, and I asked: ‘How would you fancy joining me on this journey?'” he said. “It was partly for me because I’d cancelled all my TV work and tours and wanted to have something other than ‘cancer’ in my diary.”
His subsequent months of treatment meant he “wasn’t well enough even to read or watch television”. Gilbert has been a regular guest on shows such as Would I Lie To You? and Mock The Week over the years, as well as hosting Never Mind The Buzzcocks between 2014 and 2015. His acclaimed Work Experience programme also ran for nine series on BBC One Wales between 2010 and 2020.
“The tumour popped up on my neck” on the day of a fundraising walk for Velindre Cancer Centre, Gilbert said. He later approached a documentary team to chart his cancer journey as “I knew I wouldn’t be well enough to go on stage or TV, but I thought I might be well enough to lie in bed and talk to a documentary team about how ill I was.
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