Jeremy Kyle ignored his cancer symptoms for “a few months” so has encouraged men to get checked regularly.
The talk show host was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2012 but admitted he had dismisses the fact there was “something not quite right” about his body for some time before a newspaper article convinced him to get it checked out.
He told The Sun newspaper:
“It was late 2012 and I’d just come back from a trip to America when I first knew there was something not quite right.
“It wasn’t a lump, it wasn’t even really a pain, it was just a feeling, a sensation, and it was on my mind for a couple of weeks, maybe a few months. I put it to the back of my mind and got on with my life.
“And then I saw an article in The Sun. Because it was near Christmas they had a male model and a huge ball covering his parts and it urged readers to ‘check your baubles this Christmas’.
“It resonated with me, so I went to the doctor at 9am on a Friday. He was a doctor I’d had for years, and he didn’t say anything that would panic me, but he took a look and then suggested I should go and see a specialist who he put me in touch with.
“It sounds ridiculous now but I told him, ‘I can’t do that, I’m doing ‘Text Santa’ with Ant and Dec’, but he made the appointment for me and said he was sure I’d be fine.”
Jeremy went to see the specialist and expected to make a quick exit back to work – so was floored when he was told he had cancer and needed surgery straight away.
He said:
“It was the most awful, awful moment. It’s the word nobody ever wants to hear. And it terrifies anyone, naturally.
“But what I didn’t realise straight away was how incredibly lucky I was to be having that conversation there and then — having finally gone along when I did.
“I was raced away for a biopsy, they did a full-body scan and within 12 hours I was in surgery.
“When they took the testicle out it was 90 per cent toxic.”
It took the 54-year-old star months to fully process his medical crisis.
He said:
“My testicular cancer was totally surreal. It was like it was happening to somebody else — I could barely think straight about it the whole time it was happening.
“Only when it was gone and I’d had the chemotherapy and was looking at going back to work four months later did I properly think about it.
“That word, the Big C, frightens everybody.”
And Jeremy has urged more men to talk about intimate problems and to regularly check their testicles for unusual signs and symptoms.
He said:
“Before that moment, never once had I spoken to a male friend or relative about my health, about checking myself or my prostate… I’ve become the bloke in Britain who talks about their b******s more than almost any other. I’ll tell anyone who will listen, because I think it’s so important…
“Advances in cancer treatments are massively on the increase. But it’s a combination of that and checking yourself that means I’m here now.
“I have absolutely no shame. I would so much rather talk to all my mates about it, all the time about it.”
