A former BBC star and restaurant critic has confirmed a shock cancer diagnosis.
Giles Coren, former presenter of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, has announced he has prostate cancer. Revealing the diagnosis on Friday afternoon (January 31), Mr Coren said he learnt of his diagnosis at "bang on 9.30am" on Wednesday. He wrote about his experience in his column for the Times.
He revealed he initially got a test a couple of years ago, after hearing of other men's experiences. Giles read of Stephen Fry and Bill Turnbull's diagnosis and decided to be on the safe side. However, following this he received a test result of four – with scores higher than 2.5 considered "abnormal and facing imminent death."
Giles continued to explain that after a meeting with his doctor, he felt reassured. The medical professional said prostate cancer is considered a "slow growing cancer."
He added "all men get it" if they live long enough, but still sent him for an MRI scan to be on the safe side. Giles refused a biopsy after the scans came back inconclusive. Later on, Giles agreed to an examination at the Royal Free Hospital in North London
Before then, his score increased to six and then seven. This was from the original ruling of four.
This week the food critic received the news of cancer. Doctors had discovered less than a millimetre of cancer in just three of the 21 samples he had provided. While shocking, the condition appeared to have good odds.
His diagnosis, which he described as a "malign tumour," would not require treatment for the moment, he was told, but it would be monitored for growth.
Despite being only 55 years of age, Giles seems hopeful in his diagnosis. Prostate cancer was revealed to be the most common type of cancer in the UK, having risen 25% in the last five years to overtake breast cancer to the top spot.
According to Cancer Research, more than 55,000 cases were diagnosed in the UK alone each year between 2017 and 2019 . This is around 150 people every day.
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