An Australian radio star may have already saved several lives after announcing his shock cancer diagnosis live on air this week.
Adelaide radio star Ali Clarke, co-host of Max & Ali in the Morning with Max Burford, broke down on Tuesday when she revealed she had breast cancer.
The segment has prompted hundreds of Australian women to get checked out.
Lauren Civetta, BreastScreen SA programme director, says Clarke’s admission resulted in almost 800 women across the state booking a cancer screening.
Civetta publicly thanked Clarke for sharing her story after 779 women across South Africa booked a mammogram, more than double the average number of 350.
“There was a surge in emotion at this highly emotional moment. 15 minutes can save your life,” Civetta said in a statement.
A similar situation occurred after pop princess Kylie Minogue revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005, prompting a surge in cancer screening in Australia and the UK.
Minogue was declared cancer-free in 2006.
Clarke told listeners Tuesday that she will be taking a break from her radio show while she undergoes treatment.
Australian radio star Ali Clarke may have already saved several lives after announcing her cancer diagnosis live on air this week
“It was important to tell our listeners because I have had the privilege of being trusted with their stories, and I trust them with mine,” he explained.
“I also know that many of our listeners have experienced cancer or know someone who has… worse still, there will be many people who may have heard this this morning or who are reading this who have lost a loved one to this terrible disease. I have thought a lot about their loss over the past few weeks.”
Ali asked one of his co-hosts to hold his hand before bravely making the devastating announcement.
Adelaide radio star Ali Clarke, co-host of Max & Ali in the Morning with Max Burford, broke down on Tuesday when she revealed she had breast cancer.
“The long and short of it is that I’m having a total mastectomy, which means one of my breasts is going to be removed. And if I’m honest, that part has probably been a lot more confronting than I ever imagined it would be,” she said.
“I thought it was very small and manageable, but I found a lot of small cancers. That means I’m having some pretty major surgery later this week and I’ll have to take some time off to recover, as you can imagine.”
The radio host then burst into tears as she opened up emotionally about “losing a part” of herself.
Despite the heartbreaking diagnosis, Ali admitted that he is “very lucky” with the quality of medical care he has received so far.
BreastScreen SA program director Lauren Civetta says Clarke’s intake resulted in nearly 800 women across the state booking a cancer screening.
