Sir Cliff Richard has revealed he has been treated for prostate cancer over the past year and that the cancer is now "gone." The 85-year-old singer disclosed his diagnosis in an interview with Good Morning Britain, calling for a national screening test for men and expressing willingness to join forces with the King to raise awareness.
The cancer diagnosis came from a health check required for insurance purposes before a concert tour of Australia and New Zealand. Richard said the cancer had not metastasized: «The good fortune was that it was not very old, and the other thing is that it has not metastasised. Nothing had moved into bones or anything like that.»
The singer emphasized uncertainty about the future. «I don't know whether it's going to come back. We can't tell those sort of things but we need to, absolutely, I'm convinced, get there, get tested, get checked,» he told Good Morning Britain.
Call for National Screening
Richard described the current lack of a screening program as «absolutely ridiculous.» He argued that all people deserve equal access to testing: «We have governments to look after our country and those who live in that country, so I can't see how you can say, 'Oh we can do this, we can do that, but we don't do this for these people'.»
He stressed the importance of early detection: «We all deserve to have the same ability to have a test and then start treatments really early. It seems to me – I've only been for one year now in touch with cancer, but every time I've talked with anybody this has come up and so I think our Government must listen to us.»
In November, the UK National Screening Committee announced a draft recommendation for a targeted prostate cancer screening programme. The proposal would offer screening to men aged 45 to 61 every two years, specifically for those with a genetic mutation of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.
Offer to Join King's Awareness Campaign
Richard expressed strong interest in joining the King, who announced last week his cancer treatment would be reduced in the new year, to raise awareness. «I've been involved with many charities over the years and if the King is happy to front it for us, I'm sure loads of people, I certainly would join him… If the King is listening, I think most of us would say 'yeah – we're available',» he said.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
