TASKMASTER star Richard Herring has revealed he’s got incurable leukaemia five years after beating testicular cancer.
The favourite, 58, opened up on the “bad news” in a raw essay posted to his Substack page.
Taskmaster star Richard Herring has revealed he’s been diagnosed with incurable cancer Credit: Richard Herring Substack
The season 10 personality now has hairy cell leukaemia Credit: Channel 4 / Simon Webb
Stand-up comedian and actor Richard quipped that “God is determined to make sure I get the funniest cancers possible” after he told how his exact condition was called hairy cell .
He penned: “Let me give you the bad news first. I have cancer again.
“Not ball cancer this time, I can’t afford to lose another one of those (though I will be doing my show ‘The Male Eunuch’ if it does happen).
“This time I have blood cancer.
He previously had testicular cancer Credit: Alamy
The stand-up and author reassured fans his leukaemia is treatable Credit: Alamy
“And God is determined to make sure I get the funniest cancers possible and this one is called hairy cell leukaemia.
“The other bad news is that it is incurable.”
Leukaemia is a cancer that leads to the body making too many abnormal white blood cells and means the body is less likely to be able to defend itself against infection.
These blood cells are not fully developed and are called leukaemia cells.
Richard, who starred in ‘s season 10, then told there was still hope amid the rough times.
In further paragraphs he wrote: “The good news is that it’s entirely treatable and will not kill me (the treatment has a tiny chance of killing me, but so has loading the dishwasher, so don’t worry about it)
“”I will of course be using the fact that I have incurable cancer for all it’s worth for the rest of my (hopefully long) life.
“I can get out of doing other people’s podcasts, any social event I don’t fancy and also set up a justgiving page with me with a sad face, hugging my kids and asking for money to help them once I’m gone.
What is Acute Myeloid Leukaemia?
ACUTE myeloid leukaemia is a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system's white blood cells.
The causes of the disease are not well understood and it usually cannot be prevented. Previous chemotherapy, exposure to radiation or smoking could raise the risk.
It is a rare type of cancer and affects around 3,100 people each year in the UK, and 2,700 people die from it annually.
AML is an aggressive form of cancer and often needs urgent treatment with chemotherapy and possibly a bone marrow transplant.
On average only about a third of patients survive for one year or more after being diagnosed.
Symptoms of the disease include:
- Paleness
- Concerning tiredness or weakness
- Often feeling breathless for no reason
- Getting regular infections
- Unexplained weight loss
- Unexplained bleeding and/or bruising
Source: NHS
“Ha ha ha. It’s not even a scam. It’s all true. I just won’t mention that fact that it’s treatable”.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer aged 53.
He had a testicle removed and made a full recovery.
Fans were quick to take to Reddit to wish him well.
One put: “Awful, but hopefully treatments go well and he gets to fully exploit it for comedy”.
A second gave a nod to Richard’s message and posted: “I’m sure he’s already got some cancer puns for a follow up memoir in mind”.
A third then out: “Really hope he’s gonna be OK again. He has young kids and elderly parents. His poor wife too”.
Richard, who starred in StandUpToCancer’s Bake Off with Molly-Mae Hague this year, told how he has already started chemotherapy.
As well as his telly work, which involved him being part of comedy double act Lee and Herring, he has penned a series of books including Bye Bye Balham and How Not To Grow Up.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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