London : British comedian and TV presenter Stephen Fry in a video has revealed that he had been suffering from prostate cancer and underwent a surgery last month to have his prostate removed.
Fry, who stepped down as the presenter of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) film awards last month, described prostate cancer as an “aggressive little bugger” in the 13-minute clip, The Guardian reported.
The 60-year-old comedian explained that he had visited the doctor for an influenza vaccine and after undergoing a regular medical checkup. However, his health report revealed that his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were high and an MRI scan confirmed that Fry was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The doctors offered Fry two options- either undergoing radiotherapy or having his prostate removed surgically. Fry chose the latter and has been recovering since.
“It doesn’t seem to have spread because what you don’t want is it to spread from one area to another, but one of the lymph nodes had something that called for active surveillance. It all seemed to go pretty well. They took the prostate out, they took out 11 lymph nodes. The various bits that were taken out were examined and it turned out I had a Gleason score of nine, and considering 10 is the maximum, it was clearly an aggressive little bugger,” Fry explained in the video.
“It’s a bit of a business having an operation like that. There are five holes punctured in you, it’s like being stabbed five times … to the body, it’s the same traumatic effect. It’s all pretty undignified and unfortunate,” he continued.
Fry thanked the doctors for saving his life and urged “men of a certain age” to get their PSA levels checked.
Meanwhile, Prostate Cancer United Kingdom thanked the 60-year-old comedian for “speaking about his personal experience” and emphasising the importance of raising awareness of prostate cancer.
Angela Culhane, chief executive at Prostate Cancer UK, said, “Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. There are over 47,000 men in the UK who, like Mr. Stephen Fry, are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.” (ANI)