James Whale has shared a heartbreaking health update as he battles terminal cancer.
The radio personality and TV presenter, 74, is best known for presenting The James Whale Show and appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.
In 2000 he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Then, in 2020, James revealed he was diagnosed with cancer of the brain, spine, kidney, and lungs.
Four years on, he’s now said he just has a few weeks left to live.
On the latest episode of his show, The Talk presenter explained how he was now in ‘my last couple of weeks’.
‘Last time I saw my oncologist, he said I probably have only got weeks to go,’ he said.
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‘Over the 50 years, I have interviewed and chatted to some of the most amazing people. It may have been you. Maybe we’ll catch up for the last time.’
During the show a caller named Paula got in contact, with James then explaining how emotional he’d been about confronting his mortality.
‘I spend a lot of time crying. And it really, it’s a bit embarrassing, Paula, to be quite honest with you,’ he told her.
‘I’m heading into the sunset, and I talk about it regularly on the show and you know it’s interesting because now everybody talks about it.
‘Not me, not mine, but their own, you know, they don’t feel that they’re doing it quite right without having a cancer to talk about.’
Earlier this month James also admitted things were now becoming ‘very, very difficult’ and he had started wearing make-up on air to appear healthy.
‘To anybody else who is in the final stages of cancer, you have my sympathy. I know exactly what you’re going through; I do know. I look basically OK, I get told, “You look alright” – it’s all makeup,’ he shared.
His confession came not long after the broadcaster said he would be ‘exceptionally lucky to make it to Christmas’.
‘Sometimes I think it will be easier just to have a heart attack and go,’ he admitted.
James is no longer undergoing any treatment after all options to reverse his cancer were exhausted.
He previously said the decision was made to prioritise his ‘quality of life’ and focus on ‘making memories’ with loved ones.
The presenter also wanted to continue working as long as he could.
‘I’m at the end of my cancer journey. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Talk [TV] to actually let me on the air and sit next to Ash, which is a real pain in the butt, but I’ve been doing it for 25 years!’, he said.
‘It might actually be helping me, you never know, so I don’t let that cloud my judgement – but on the medication I am on, I’m all over the place.
‘I’m hoping to go on for another few weeks, few months, but as soon as I can’t do the show anymore, I won’t.’
Rex/ Shutterstock)
When initially diagnosed with kidney cancer 25 years ago, James was told he only had three months to live.
At the time he underwent treatment and had surgery to remove one of his kidneys.
James’ first wife Melinda Maxted, who he married in 1970 and shares two sons with, died in 2018 after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
He has been married to Nadine Lamont-Brown since 2021.
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