Comedian Rhod Gilbert has admitted dismissing his cancer symptoms as ‘a sore throat’ — and is warning others not to make the same mistake.
The Never Mind The Buzzcocks panelist, 56, was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer in 2022 before getting the all-clear last year.
Along with discomfort while swallowing he suffered a persistent cough, but GPs simply advised him he was over-using his voice.
The NHS advises anyone who has suffered a cough for more than three weeks to make an appointment with their GP.
When Gilbert, who is married to writer and comedian Sian Harries, noticed a lump on his neck, doctors agreed to a biopsy and the alarming cause was discovered.
‘Luckily that lump popped up,’ he told the Mirror this week.
‘If that lump hadn’t have popped up, I don’t know what would’ve happened, I would dread to think.’
Head and neck cancer is the eighth most common form of cancer overall in the UK, although it is two to three times more common in men than in women.
Comedian Rhod Gilbert has admitted dismissing his cancer symptoms as ‘a sore throat’ — and is warning others not to make the same mistake
The Never Mind The Buzzcocks panelist, 56, was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer in 2022 before getting the all-clear last year
About 12,500 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to Cancer Research UK, and incidences are on the rise. About 4,000 people die from from the disease annually.
Doctors have recently warned they are seeing throat cancer cases in ‘much younger patients’ and suggest oral sex is driving the worrying trend.
A report in October reveled hundreds more people are dying from the disease than before the Covid pandemic with almost a 50 per cent increase in cases since 2013.
The new findings add to previous research that found since the early 90s, rates of head and neck cancer have surged by more than a third in Britain — with the trend being driven partly by younger patients being diagnosed.
Smoking, alcohol and human papillomavirus (HPV) — a normally harmless virus that is spread sexually and through skin contact — are the primary causes.
Although over 65s are most commonly hit by the disease, the increases are partly driven by the the rise in young patients — including those under 50 — developing it.
The umbrella term head and neck cancer refers to cancers of the mouth, voice box, nose, throat, salivary glands and sinuses.
However oesophageal (gullet) and thyroid cancer, brain tumours and cancers of the eye are not usually classified as a head and neck cancers.
The funnyman is performing throughout the UK in 2024 and 2025 on his Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit tour and he says his illness influenced some of the content of his show (pictured in 2018)
Gilbert revealed he was battling cancer in 2022 in a statement issued on social media, just days after pausing his tour at the time.
The Welshman allowed cameras to follow him through ‘brutal’ but ‘wonderful’ treatment at the Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff.
The resulting Channel 4 programme, A Pain in the Neck for SU2C, aired earlier this year.
He said: ‘I think that one of the problems we’ve got is some cancers don’t have any symptoms.
‘With some of them, the symptoms could well be something else and they’re more likely to be something else.
‘The problem with coughs, you hear about this 100-day cough, but I think the general rule is if anything persists and doesn’t go away, if it won’t go away after a few weeks, then get it checked out.
‘Don’t panic and make sure you can do anything you can to get it checked out.’
Gilbert is still having check-ups with his cancer team every six months, but says he considers himself ‘one of the lucky ones’.
‘My treatment was wonderful, and I was given the all clear in May 2023. I am currently all clear and now having ENT camera checks every six months,’ he explained.
Last month Gilbert revealed two people close to him died of cancer just months after he was told his treatment had been a success.
He was given the terrible news about the death of one friend in the middle of a stand-up performance.
‘This week I’ve been to a funeral for my friend’s dad, who died of cancer,’ he said.
‘In the interval while on stage in Halifax, I [also] found out that a friend of mine had died of cancer.
‘I knew he had gone into end of life care, so it wasn’t a huge surprise, but it just happened in that moment where I just so happened to have come off stage during the interval, looked at my phone and read a text saying, “He’s gone”.’
The funnyman is performing throughout the UK in 2024 and 2025 on his Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit tour and he says his illness influenced some of the content of his show.
Rhod explained: ‘Grapefruit, partly a nod to the tumour that was in my neck, and partly the thing of when life gives you lemons you make lemonade.
‘Well this is what to do when life starts throwing grapefruits at you which is even worse in my opinion but it’s a happy show, it’s an uplifting show.’
