Comic Mark Steel diagnosed with cancer after spotting worrying sign in mirror
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Comedian Mark Steel revealed he has been diagnosed with cancer.
The beloved funnyman, 63, has opened up about his recent diagnosis in a blog post on his website, where he explained how he noticed his neck "looking much bigger than normal" while shaving.
He told readers: "I had to look from several angles before I believed the mirror – the first thought when you notice a large abnormality on your body, is to assume the mind has made a mistake.
"Maybe the reflections is distorted by an eclipse of the moon or the northern lights, or maybe I've confused my left gland with my thigh," he joked.
At first, the star researched his symptoms and assumed it was simply an infecting and ignored it for two weeks. However, the inflammation on his neck only grew in that time which pushed him to book an appointment with the doctor.
He went on: "The following week I was in the doctor's office, talking in the blokey way that men often talk to a doctor, saying, 'I'm sure it's nothing I'm sorry for coming in'."
After checking out his neck, the doctor referred him to the hospital for a scan, who then ordered a biopsy after the getting concerned about the "enlarged" and "uneven" growth. When a doctor phoned him several nights later, they asked him about his symptoms which was when Mark realised were "unsubtle cancer questions."
Despite the numerous trips to the hospital, he still hoped that he had simply "twisted my neck into a lump by sleeping on a badly designed pillow." Following his biopsy, the stand-up comic was told he would hear back within a week, however, there were no updates after almost 14 days.
The hospital later confessed that they had lost the biopsy in transit. It wasn't much longer before he received the devastating phone call from the doctor about his cancer diagnosis. Mark went on: "Then a completely new person called me, and said I had to go in for a repeat biopsy the next day 'to see what stage of cancer you have'."
"'Hang on,' I said, 'No one has said it's definitely cancer, are you saying it's definitely cancer?' She paused. 'Yes, has no one told you?'" Despite sharing his frustrations with doctors and nurses, he reminded readers to always be polite to NHS staff.
He added: "Most of the staff are paid appallingly and treated with contempt. Their minister quit and went on I'm A Celebrity, so don't take out your frustrations on them. Even so, it's reasonable to ask politely how they could have lost the biopsy and forgotten to tell me I had f***ing cancer."
- Breaking News
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