Richard Herring has revealed he has been diagnosed with incurable leukaemia, five years after beating testicular cancer. The 58-year-old stand-up comedian and actor, known for his work on Channel 4’s ‘Taskmaster’, opened up about the diagnosis in a raw and characteristically humorous essay that he shared with his subscribers on the publishing platform for writers.Herring revealed his exact condition is called hairy cell leukaemia. “Let me give you the bad news first. I have cancer again,” he wrote. “Not ball cancer this time, I can’t afford to lose another one of those, though I will be doing my show ‘The Male Eunuch’ if it does happen. This time I have blood cancer. And God is determined to make sure I get the funniest cancers possible, and this one is called hairy cell leukaemia. The other bad news is that it is incurable.“
Richard Herring on the hopeful side of his diagnosis
Despite the seriousness of the news, Herring made clear in his essay that there remained reason for hope. “The good news is that it’s entirely treatable and will not kill me. The treatment has a tiny chance of killing me, but so has loading the dishwasher, so don’t worry about it,” he wrote.
Richard Herring has been diagnosed with incurable leukaemia, five years after beating testicular cancer.
True to his comedic style, he also joked about how he planned to use the diagnosis to his advantage. “I will, of course, be using the fact that I have incurable cancer for all it’s worth for the rest of my hopefully long life. I can get out of doing other people’s podcasts, any social event I don’t fancy and also set up a JustGiving page with me with a sad face, hugging my kids and asking for money to help them once I’m gone. Ha ha ha. It’s not even a scam. It’s all true. I just won’t mention the fact that it’s treatable.”
Richard Herring’s earlier battle with testicular cancer
According to The Sun, this is not the first time Herring has faced a cancer diagnosis. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 53, underwent surgery to have a testicle removed, and made a full recovery at the time.
Richard Herring’s career and current treatment
Herring, who appeared in Stand Up to Cancer’s Bake Off alongside Molly-Mae Hague earlier this year, revealed he has already begun chemotherapy. Best known for his work as part of the comedy double act Lee and Herring, he has also written several books, including ‘Bye Bye Balham’ and ‘How Not to Grow Up’.
What is hairy cell leukaemia?
Hairy cell leukaemia is caused by an abnormal change in B lymphocytes, white blood cells that normally help fight infection, which then overproduce and crowd out healthy red and white blood cells and platelets. According to Moffitt Cancer Center, the condition typically progresses very slowly and is not currently considered curable, though chemotherapy has been shown to produce highly effective and long-lasting remissions.
