Rhod Gilbert says first clear scan after cancer diagnosis was 'the best day of my life'

Comedian Rhod Gilbert has received a clear scan for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer.

The 55-year-old Welshman announced in July 2022 that he had the disease and was being treated at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff, where he had been a fundraising patron for a decade before the diagnosis.

He underwent surgery for metastatic cancer of the head and neck, followed by sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Gilbert, who has appeared on shows such as Would I Lie To You? and Mock The Week over the years, told the Radio Times discovering his cancer hadn’t spread was “the best day of my life”.

“I was back on the road earlier this year, I got a call to say my latest scan had shown the cancer was in the areas they knew about, but it wasn’t in my lungs or my brain,” he said.

The news was later followed by his first clear scan, to which Gilbert said: “The best thing was that the tumour had gone, and it was once again an ordinary blood vessel.”

Days before his treatment was set to begin, Gilbert approached a documentary team to film his experience.

“I was lying in bed on the Friday, with my treatment due to start the following Monday,” he told the Radio Times.

“I rang the team I knew – there was no broadcaster on board, it was all on spec – and I asked, ‘How would you fancy joining me on this journey?’

“It was partly for me. I’d cancelled all my TV work and tours, and I wanted to have something other than ‘cancer’ in my diary.

“I knew I wouldn’t be well enough to go on stage or TV, but I thought I might be well enough to lie in bed and talk to a documentary team about how ill I was.

“I thought, ‘It will give me something to do’.”

Gilbert returned to the stage in May this year when he performed the first show in the final seven of his rescheduled Book of John tour at Swansea Arena.

The tour was originally due to be performed in the summer of 2022.

Speaking after the show the comedian said it was "wonderful to be back".

Gilbert discovered he had cancer when "a tumour popped up on his neck" on the day of a fundraising walk for the Velindre Cancer Centre.

The following months of treatment meant he “wasn’t well enough even to read or watch television”.

He has been a regular guest on shows such as Would I Lie To You?, QI and Mock The Week over the years, and also hosted Never Mind The Buzzcocks from 2014 to 2015.

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