Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert has received his first clear cancer scan after undergoing treatment.
Gilbert, 55, announced in July he had cancer and underwent surgery for metastatic cancer of the head and neck, followed by sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
He was treated at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where he had been a fundraising patron for a decade before his diagnosis.
In an interview with Radio Times, he said discovering his cancer hadn’t spread was “the best day of my life”.
“I was back on the road earlier this year, I got a call to say my latest scan had shown the cancer was in the areas they knew about, but it wasn’t in my lungs or my brain,” he said.
The news was later followed by his first clear scan, to which Gilbert said: “The best thing was that the tumour had gone, and it was once again an ordinary blood vessel.”
Gilbert has made a documentary about his experience with cancer, which he approached a TV crew about days before his treatment was due to begin.
“I was lying in bed on the Friday, with my treatment due to start the following Monday,” he said.
“I rang the team I knew – there was no broadcaster on board, it was all on spec – and I asked, ‘How would you fancy joining me on this journey?’
“It was partly for me. I’d cancelled all my TV work and tours, and I wanted to have something other than ‘cancer’ in my diary.
“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.
“I thought, ‘It will give me something to do’.”
Gilbert said the treatment meant he “wasn’t well enough even to read or watch television”.
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As well as a successful stand-up career with several sell-out tours, Gilbert has been a regular guest on shows such as Would I Lie To You?, QI and Mock The Week over the years.
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He also hosted Never Mind The Buzzcocks from 2014 to 2015.
Rhod Gilbert: A Pain in the Neck will air on 30 October on Channel 4 as part of the broadcaster’s Stand Up To Cancer campaign.
