Richard Herring has been diagnosed with blood cancer, which is treatable (Picture: Channel 4/Mark Johnson)
Richard Herring has shared that he has been diagnosed with cancer a second time, describing it as ‘incurable’ this time.
The comedian and Taskmaster victor shared the news in his Substack, detailing how he has blood cancer rather than testicular cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2021.
Explaining the diagnosis, he wrote: ‘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).’
The 58-year-old went on: ‘This time I have blood cancer. 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.
However, he said that the cancer is treatable and ‘will not kill him’, adding in parentheses: ‘The treatment has a tiny chance of killing me, but so has loading the dishwasher, so don’t worry about it.’
‘The good news is that it’s entirely treatable and will not kill me’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Herring won the tenth series of Taskmaster in 2020 (Picture: Channel 4/Mark Johnson)
He continued: ‘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.
‘Ha ha ha. It’s not even a scam. It’s all true. I just won’t mention that fact that it’s treatable.’
Herring went on to detail his diagnosis, explaining that it took several years in this instance.
What is hairy cell leukaemia?
This rare type of chronic leukaemia gets its name from the hair-like growths on the cells, which can be seen under a microscope.
Symptoms can include tiredness and breathlessness, bruising easily, abdominal pain and weight loss.
More than 90 per cent of people in England will survive this leukaemia for five years or more after being diagnosed, according to Cancer Research.
The 58-year-old said the diagnosis has been years in the making (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
‘They found a few of the cells in my bone marrow about 12 years ago, but it didn’t get any worse and after five years of being tested, the doctor said it was probably going to be OK,’ he wrote
The comedian went on to say that he had ‘sort of forgotten about it’ in the time since.
He then detailed his first day of chemotherapy under the august treatment of the NHS, assuring fans there ‘were no immediate problems’.
Herring won the tenth series of Taskmaster in 2020 and then returned two years later to compete in Champion of Champions special, which he also won.
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