Jamie Theakston is the latest star to reveal he has laryngeal cancer, a type of throat cancer that affects more than 2,000 Britons a year.
The Heart Radio presenter, 53, took to Instagram to share his health update after previously revealing he booked a doctors appointment after listeners noticed there was something wrong with his voice.
Voice changes are one of the classic symptoms of the disease. Anyone who notices that they have had a hoarse voice for more than three weeks is advised to consult their GP.
Throat cancer is not a medical term; doctors distinguish cancers that develop in this part of the body into two main types.
These include cancers of the larynx, like the one Theakston has, and cancers of the pharynx, a hollow muscular tube inside the neck that starts behind the nose and opens into the larynx and trachea.
Heart Radio presenter Jamie Theakston, pictured with his stand-in co-presenter Davina McCall, revealed on Instagram that he booked a doctors appointment after listeners noticed there was something not quite right with his voice.
For many people like Theakston, the first noticeable symptom is a sore throat, but experts warn that earache is a lesser-known warning sign.
Here MailOnline details some other celebrities who have been diagnosed with throat cancer.
Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer, star of ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Batman Forever,’ was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015.
Kilmer, now 64, underwent radiation and chemotherapy for his cancer, as well as a tracheotomy, a procedure to create an artificial hole in his neck to help him breathe.
The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequently forever altered his speaking voice.
In the Amazon Prime documentary Val, Kilmer spoke candidly about living with the consequences of throat cancer, including having to use an electrical device called a larynx in the artificial opening of his throat in order to speak.
“I obviously sound a lot worse than I feel. I can’t talk without covering up this hole (in his throat),” he said.
Val Kilmer rose to fame for his starring role alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun; seen in 1986
Kilmer, 61, who is now cancer-free, speaks candidly about surviving throat cancer in his new Amazon Prime documentary Val. Pictured in 2019.
A voice box device is usually a battery-operated machine that produces sound to create a voice and is used to help people with throat cancer communicate.
The actor, who also has to be fed through a tube, explained some of the other challenges.
“You have to choose between breathing or eating. It’s an obstacle that is very present for those who see me,” he said.
Kilmer had previously detailed how he didn’t know he had throat cancer until one day he coughed up “clotted blood” and called an ambulance before collapsing.
He then woke up in a Santa Monica hospital after an emergency tracheotomy for throat cancer.
Martina Navratalova
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova emotionally declared last year that she was “cancer-free” after overcoming throat and breast cancer.
In an emotional interview with Piers Morgan, the now 67-year-old said she had feared she would “not see the next Christmas” and that beating the disease was “the hardest thing in the world”.
Navratilova added that her diagnosis forced her to postpone plans to adopt a child with her wife Julia Lemigova and even drew up a list of things she wanted to do before she died.
The tennis star, who won 59 major titles in a career spanning four decades, announced she had been diagnosed with cancer in early 2023.
She had already beaten breast cancer in 2010, but said she feared she would not be able to see Christmas 2023 when it returned.
Martina Navratilova announced on Twitter that she was cancer-free after tests in New York last year.
The 67-year-old tennis player, pictured holding the Wimbledon trophy in 1990, was diagnosed with double cancer in December 2022.
The Czech-born athlete confirmed she had been diagnosed with cancer after doctors found an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA Finals in Fort Worth in November last year, with subsequent tests confirming she had breast and throat cancer.
She recalled: “(I think) I will see this Christmas, but maybe not next Christmas.”
“Who can have two cancers at the same time? I’ve never been one to underachieve, but this is getting ridiculous.”
However, displaying the spirit that has guided her to success on the tennis court, Navratilova steadfastly refused to give up: “Giving up, giving in, stopping, that’s not an option for me. I have to keep going.”
He added: “Giving up is simply not in my DNA.”
The Golden Racquet winner also detailed how she had to undergo a gruelling combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and proton therapy to rid herself of the cancer.
Announcing the result on social media, she thanked everyone involved in her care and added the words “to hell with cancer.”
Danny Baker
Popular radio host and writer Danny Baker has previously detailed how his diagnosis with mouth and throat cancer left him unable to speak for eight months.
Baker revealed his diagnosis in 2011 and was only declared cancer-free in 2016.
Detailing her experience with cancer, she explained that she had to undergo intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to the point that she was left without salivary glands.
The treatment left the presenter barely able to eat or drink and with a tube connected to his stomach so he could feed himself.
Later, in the 2016 series of I’m A Celebrity, he detailed how cancer had affected him and still affected him.
“I have very few taste buds, very few salivary glands and my appetite is stagnant,” she said.
Popular radio host and writer Danny Baker has previously detailed how his diagnosis with mouth and throat cancer left him unable to speak for eight months. Pictured in 2018.
He then added a shocking revelation to the camp: “I didn’t speak for eight months.”
Baker, who is married to Wendy and has three children, rose to fame as a writer for the music magazine New Musical Express in the 1970s.
The broadcaster, who left school at 14, landed a job at NME, where he interviewed Michael Jackson.
He then became a television presenter and teamed up with his friend Chris Evans, where he wrote the scripts for Evans’ show, TFI Friday.
During the 1990s, Baker and Evans were regularly photographed drinking with footballer Paul Gascoigne.
Some blamed Baker and Evans for leading Gazza astray in the build-up to the 1998 World Cup, when the star was dropped from the England squad.
Her friendship with Evans helped her cope with her illness, especially when her income dried up when she was unable to work.
In an interview he revealed how he went to see Evans and asked him to lend him £30,000, which he gave him immediately.
He has paid off the debt by re-mortgaging his home in Deptford, south-east London.
