Broadcaster and journalist Adrian Chiles has revealed he’s undergone secret surgery following a skin cancer diagnosis.
Adrian, who presented The One Show between 2007 and 2010 and ITV’s Daybreak, shared the news that he’d had a “squamous cell carcinoma” removed recently.
He also shared the frustrating process that led to his diagnosis, claiming that he found it difficult to speak to an actual doctor about his results and was instead directed to the NHS app, where details of his appointments were shared.
‘I heard the word carcinoma’
Writing in his column for The Guardian, Adrian revealed he had “this thing on the back of his shoulder” that a dermatologist at an NHS hospital “looked at”.
Adrian said that he “heard the word carcinoma in there somewhere”. The presenter said: “He said I’d have to come back and have it taken out, and then they would see whether or not it was a carcinoma. I suggested that, if cancer was a possibility, then a bit of hurry-up might be called for. To which he said: ‘Oh, it won’t make any difference now. The only thing that would have made any difference was if you’d come sooner.'”
‘All removed and won’t spread’
The presenter said, two weeks later, he was “back in for the excision”. The same doctor performed the procedure and “this time, he said he was pretty sure it was cancer, cancerous, a carcinoma”.
Adrian said this raised the question, if it is cancer, what next? “Then, we have to have a conversation,” the doctor told him ominously.
Weeks later, Adrian was told that it was skin cancer. However, happily he then shared: “It was a squamous cell carcinoma. All removed and won’t spread. So not nothing, but not serious. Needs keeping an eye on.”
What is squamous cell carcinoma?
According to the NHS, it is a type of skin cancer that usually starts in the skin where the cells multiply and alter the skin’s appearance. They are typically slow-growing forms of skin cancer and usually remain in the outer layer of the skin.
They have the potential to spread to other organs of the body, but this is more common if left untreated for a long time.
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