FAMILY MAN
Former BBC Breakfast presenter Bill Turnbull has revealed how going public about his cancer battle has helped to save countless lives.
The host, 62, was diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer in November 2017 and spoke openly about his fight at the time.
He says: “A lot of men got in touch to say they had gone to get checked. And a number of wives told me they’d made their husbands go.
“Some have written to let me know what happened next.
“‘Dear Bill, I thank you for my husband’s life. After watching you on television a few months ago my husband reluctantly went for a PSA blood test. He was found to have prostate cancer and had his prostate removed. He has had the all-clear.”
Bill tells the Radio Times: “What can you say to that? It doesn’t make everything worthwhile, but it certainly helps to know that someone will stay alive as a result of my experience.”
When Bill’s news broke, charity Prostate Cancer UK had their busiest day, with 400% more calls than on an average day.
In the following days visits to the health information page on their website increased by 190%.
Bill says his daily battle with cancer has become “relentlessly boring”, adding: “But if love could have cured me, I’d be a healthy man now.”
Turnbull, who is married to wife Sesi, has had chemotherapy in a bid to stop the cancer, which has spread across his pelvis, hips, legs and spine.
He says: “You go to bed at night thinking about it, and it’s still there when you wake up. “It’s there all day, every day – a fact of life you have to get used to. And it’s a massive pain in the backside.”
In July he asked his doctors to stop the chemotherapy as the side effects had become too much.
“After the eighth round of chemo in July, I asked the consultant to release me from the treatment. I just couldn’t bear it any longer. We ended up doing one more, and then called it a day.
“Each round felt worse. I kept my hair, more or less, but lost my sense of taste. I had days when all I could do was lie down and wait for the crushing fatigue and nausea to pass.”
He says: “It felt as if the chemo was now taking on a character of its own, like some malevolent gremlin. It would take me on. Grind me down. During the bad phases, I wondered if I’d ever recover from feeling sick, tired and depressed.”
He says he coped by watching endless television box sets – including The Sopranos, Fargo and all of Game of Thrones.
Turnbull’s blood count for cancer has been brought down by the chemo, but it could return within months.
“When I was first diagnosed, my PSA (prost atespecific anti-
The chemo was some malevolent gremlin. It would take me on. Grind me down BILL TURNBULL ON HIS DECISION TO QUIT TREATMENT AFTER EIGHT ROUNDS