Former snooker player Willie Thorne has announced he is suffering from prostate cancer.
Thorne, 61, told the Sunday Mirror the cancer was discovered at an early stage and said he was hopeful of making a full recovery.
He said: "My psychiatrist said I needed a set of blood tests as a matter of routine and they came back showing a problem.
"A scraping of the front of my prostrate showed up the cancer cells and now doctors are having to carry out a scraping of the back of the prostate to see if there has been any spread."
Thorne will await the results that will determine what happens next.
"But because they caught it quite early, we're hopeful," he said.
Thorne, a former UK Championship runner-up who has forged a career as a snooker commentator with the BBC since retiring from playing, has been battling gambling problems.
He said: "I feel numb with everything that has gone on. But I am determined to summon the strength and fight.
"I'm scared because I've spent two years living a lie with the gambling, depression and debts - I do wonder if this has been brought on by the stress."