Bill Turnbull has admitted he has gone through “dark” times following his diagnosis with prostate and bone cancer.
The former ‘BBC Breakfast’ presenter returned to the show for a special interview on Friday, during which he gave an update on his health.
Bill, who has undergone nine rounds of chemotherapy, spoke of the difficult weeks he faced after he was first told he had the disease last year.
“You have a few days when you’re in shock and then you have a few weeks which are pretty dark,” he said.
“On this day when people are watching this on television, there will be hundreds of people in Britain who will get a diagnosis. Hundreds.”
Giving advice to those in a similar situation, Bill continued: “All I can say to them is hold tight and things will…they won’t get better, but it won’t be quite as dark as it is now.”
Urging men who are displaying symptoms of the disease to get checked out, he added: “We don’t wanna waste the doctor’s time, we don’t wanna waste our time, we don’t like going to the surgery, why would we do that? Naturally we’re reluctant to go.
“Now of course I’m a season ticket holder at my local surgery.”
Bill was joined on the show by a man who had been encouraged to get checked out after hearing his story, showing the impact Bill going public with his diagnosis has had.
“It brought home to me what it had actually meant so that’s great.”