Stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert has achieved a cancer-free scan result, marking a significant milestone since his treatment journey.
The 55-year-old native of Carmarthen revealed his cancer diagnosis in July 2022 and sought treatment at Cardiff’s Velindre Cancer Centre.
Gilbert recounted the start of his journey, noting that it all began when “a tumour popped up on my neck” on the day of a fundraising walk for Velindre Cancer Centre. The months of subsequent treatment left him too unwell even to engage in reading or watching television.
His treatment involved surgery for metastatic cancer in the head and neck region, followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Just before commencing his initial treatment, Gilbert, who had been a dedicated fundraising patron for Velindre for ten years, reached out to a documentary crew to document his journey.
“I was lying in bed on the Friday, with my treatment due to start the following Monday.
“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 because I’d cancelled all my TV work and tours and 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.”
Gilbert described the day he learned his cancer hadn’t spread as “the best day of my life.” telling the Radio Times “I was back on the road earlier this year when 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.”
Subsequently, he received his initial cancer-free scan results.
Gilbert said: “The best thing was that the tumour had gone, and it was once again an ordinary blood vessel,”
