Comedian Rhod Gilbert has opened up about the heartbreaking news he received just months after his battle with stage 4 cancer.
In 2022, the 56-year-old faced a whirlwind after being diagnosed with cancer, taking a break from TV to recover, and later being given the all-clear. However, a few months later, he received shocking news about the deaths of his friend’s father and his close friend, both of whom passed away from cancer, the Mirror reports.
Speaking exclusively to Reach PLC, Rhod said: “This week I’ve been to a funeral for my friend’s dad, who died of cancer. In the interval while on stage in Halifax, I [also] found out that a friend of mine had died of cancer. I knew he had gone into end of life care, so it wasn’t a huge surprise, but it just happened in that moment where I just so happened to have come off stage during the interval, looked at my phone and read a text saying, ‘He’s gone.'”
Reflecting on how he tried to stay strong after hearing the news, Rhod added: “It’s just everywhere, which is why I think it’s important to talk about it and get it out there and try and find humour in it and try and normalise it, and that’s what I’ve been doing on stage. I just focused on what good I could do in that moment I suppose.”
Rhod also reflected on his own cancer diagnosis, saying: “When you hear those words ‘you’ve got cancer’ and they’re giving you percentages about your survival, it’s like, oh my God, it’s a lot to take in. I really am much more aware these days with how lucky I am and how much I want to get out there and live life.”
The Live at the Apollo star previously revealed that he used comedy as a way to cope during his cancer journey, admitting that the disease is “a lot less scary if your oncologist is laughing with you.” He was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in the spring of 2022 after discovering a lump in his neck. Rhod underwent treatment at Cardiff’s Velindre Cancer Centre, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and two surgeries, the second of which removed gallstones and forced him to postpone seven tour dates in January.
Bringing his positive attitude back to the stage with a new tour called Rhod Gilbert and The Giant Grapefruit, he made his TV comeback in early 2023 after receiving the all-clear. Rhod noted that the tour name was partly a nod to James and the Giant Peach and partly a reference to “the giant tumour that was in his neck.” He added that the tour was also about how “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
“But this is what to do when life starts throwing grapefruits at you which is worse in my opinion,” he continued to Alex and Jermaine. “But, it’s a happy show, it’s an uplifting show. People come out uplifted, full of beans. It’s probably the happiest show I’ve ever done, weirdly.”
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