Jamie Theakston is cancer-free and will be returning to work on Monday morning.
In September, the 54-year-old presenter revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 1 laryngeal cancer.
Speaking to his Heart Breakfast co-host Amanda Holden and Jason King who has been covering his morning role, Theakston said: “I’ve got some news for you. Because I can tell you that as of today, I’m cancer-free”.
He said doctors had warned him there was a one in six chance that he might never be able to talk again.
Returning to the studio on the four-month anniversary of his cancer diagnosis, Theakston admitted: “I’ve had enough of hospitals and operations, and it’s just lovely to be back.”
The former Live & Kicking presenter has said he first became aware of issues with his throat after fans contacted him to say they’d noticed a change in his voice.
He’d originally said he hoped to be back after just a month, but said repeated surgeries on his vocal cords had led to complications.
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Theakston said it had come as “an enormous shock” to receive his cancer diagnosis, explaining: “I fully intended to be told that I had a sore throat. And when I was told, ‘Oh, it’s probably cancer,’ I just, literally, I just didn’t even know what to say. I mean, it just blew my mind.”
He said he went through “several surgeries,” admitting: “The first surgery wasn’t as successful as we hoped. [I] had a second surgery, and then a third surgery, and each time, I was doing more and more damage to my vocal cords.”
He went on: “So, in actual fact, by the third one, they said, ‘Well, look, you’ve got a one in six chance you might not be able to talk again.’ And so, then you kind of think, ‘Oh, okay, that’s like rolling a dice,’ Yeah, I’ll take that. And so, there’s just a kind of, it’s just statistics after statistics.”
‘I’m back baby!’
Theakston, who is married to jewellery designer Sophie Siegle and has two teenage sons, said that with cancer “a whole family suffers,” praising them for being “amazingly supportive”.
He also thanked those who had sent him messages of support during his illness, saying: “Every single person I’ve ever met or known has been in touch. People I’ve forgotten all about have been in touch. So that has just been amazing.”
Theakston also gave a special shout-out to his stand-in King – known as JK – who normally co-hosts with Kelly Brook and who Theakston said had done “an amazing job”.
He went on: “You came in at the last minute, and I know what an upheaval it is. You’ve got a young family, and literally, were told, ‘Oh, you’ve got to come in tomorrow,’ and then from then on, you didn’t know how long you were going to do it for. So, you know, one month, then two months, and then it was three months. And you’ve done such a fantastic job.”
Thanking him, JK said: “I’m just I’m so happy that you’re sat in that chair. I’m happy that you are cancer-free. I’m happy that the gang is back together. It is so blooming good to see you, Jamie Theakston.”
Theakston joked: “It’s good to be back. I’m back baby!”
Theakston has been presenting for Heart for 19 years and has been alongside Holden on the breakfast show for five years after Holden replaced Spice Girl Emma Bunton in the summer of 2019.
Theakston rose to fame as the presenter of popular Saturday morning children’s TV show Live & Kicking, which he co-hosted alongside Zoe Ball between 1996 and 1999.
He went on to co-host Top Of The Pops and present on Radio 1. He also briefly dabbled in acting, appearing in detective show Marple, sketch show Little Britain and comedy sitcom My Family in the early 2000s.
