ABC presenter James Valentine is to return to radio after undergoing major cancer surgery three months ago.
The ABC Radio Sydney Afternoons presenter revealed in March that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would undergo surgery in April to remove his oesophagus.
The 63-year-old man had a four-centimetre tumour at the junction of his oesophagus and stomach and was due to undergo a highly complicated procedure that would involve removing most of his oesophagus along with a quarter of his stomach.
Valentine revealed Monday that she would be returning to the airwaves this afternoon after undergoing a different, much less invasive procedure that removed cancer cells from her esophagus rather than the entire organ.
The radio veteran said he was on holiday ahead of his planned cancer surgery when he received a call from a friend telling him to speak to Professor Michael Bourke, head of gastrointestinal endoscopy at Westmead Hospital.
Dr. Bourke had told Valentine that he could remove the cancer cells using the procedure through the throat and was able to operate on the same day his other surgery had been scheduled.
“My surgeon says that with everything he’s seen and all the data and information he has, I have to have the surgery (to remove my esophagus). The endoscopic option will work for some, but not for me,” she wrote in an article for ABC.
Valentine was given only three days to decide.
James Valentine will return to radio on Monday after undergoing major surgery for cancer three months ago.
Its original procedure is the approved protocol, but the new option has been around for decades and has had promising results.
The radio host ultimately opted for the less invasive surgery.
“There is only one order in which I can do this. I can do the Westmead operation and if that fails, I can do the whole surgery. I can’t do the opposite,” he said.
“This is either the best thing I’ve ever done or the worst.”
Valentine’s test results show no signs of cancer, but she will need to undergo regular scans over the next few years.
Because his esophagus is still healing, he can only eat slowly in small bites, but otherwise feels normal again.
She was first diagnosed in December last year after noticing something was wrong at a friend’s birthday party.
He said that after gobbling down a massaman curry, he began choking and gagging.
ABC radio presenter James Valentine (right) is pictured with actress Leah McLeod
It was then that his wife recommended that he go to her sister’s endoscopy clinic to have a gastroscopy, where the cancer was detected.
He underwent five weeks of chemotherapy and radiation in January before surgery in April.
Veteran radio and television host Tim Webster filled in for Valentine during his absence.
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