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Rhod Gilbert sets foot inside the Celebrity Bake Off tent for the Stand Up to Cancer special on March 17.
Hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding will welcome 20 stars into the tent for the Stand Up To Cancer special, where their efforts will be judged by Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.
A host of celebrities including Mel B, Oti Mabuse and Danny Dyer will battle it out in the marquee for the coveted baking title.
Comedian Rhod, 55, received his first clear scan in October 2023 after being diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2022.
MailOnline takes a look at the comedian’s brave and ‘brutal’ battle with the disease.
Rhod Gilbert will set foot in the Celebrity Bake Off tent for the Stand Up to Cancer special on March 17
The comedian had his first clear scan in October 2023 after being diagnosed with head and neck cancer the year before (pictured in 2016)
As Rhod prepared to compete for the coveted title of baker, MailOnline takes a look at the comedian’s brave and ‘brutal’ battle with the disease.
Rhod Gilbert was first diagnosed with head and neck cancer after finding a lump in April 2022.
The comedian, 55, received treatment at the Velindre Cancer Center in Cardiff – a treatment center he had served as a patron for a decade.
In a 2023 interview with Stand Up 2 Cancer, Rhod explained: ‘So about 10 years ago a small cancer center in Cardiff called Velindre approached me and said, “Would you like to be a patron, do you know an ambassador?”
‘I said, “Yes”, and I’ve been involved with them ever since.’
Discussing his decade of fundraising for the center’s trek across Kilimanjaro and Patagonia, the comedian added: ‘They’ve really been a big part of my life for the last ten years.
“So imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed, which gave me no end because I thought I would have lifelong immunity, apparently not.
“Apparently you’re just as likely to get cancer if you spend your time raising money for a cancer hospital,” he joked.
The Carmarthen-born comedian first discovered the lump on his neck while raising money for the center during a trek across Cuba.
“The other irony is that I was in Cuba on a fundraising walk for this cancer center when the first bloody lump appeared on my neck,” he shared.
‘I left, literally left as a patron and came back as a patient.’
Prior to his diagnosis, Rhod revealed that he had struggled with neck pain and sore throat and often found it difficult to breathe.
After experiencing facial spasms and tight muscles, a biopsy later revealed the comedian had head and neck cancer.
Rhod said: ‘I couldn’t talk or breathe and I was postponing and canceling tour shows, I had terrible spasms in my face and a lot of tightness in my muscles.
He underwent surgery for metastatic head and neck cancer, followed by daily sessions of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Rhod was diagnosed with cancer of the neck and throat, on a tonsil and at the base of the tongue, after finding a lump in April 2022
He found out while raising money for the Velindre Cancer Center on a trek in Cuba, Rhod said: ‘I left, literally went back as a patron and came back as a patient’
What treatment did Rhod Gilbert receive?
Rhod’s road to recovery has been anything but ‘easy’ and the grateful comedian describes his treatment as ‘brutal’.
Head and neck specialist at Velindre, Professor Mererid Evans described Rhodes’ radiotherapy and chemotherapy as ‘particularly difficult’.
In an interview with BBC Walesshe explained that radiotherapy to certain areas of the throat and mouth can cause ‘large sores’ that only get worse over a period of six weeks.
She added that sometimes the wounds make swallowing so painful and difficult that a tube is required, a procedure we saw Rhod undergo in his 2023 documentary, Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.
Mererid elaborated that byproducts of the aggressive treatment are sometimes fatigue, nausea, vomiting and infections that can take months to recover from.
“Radiation therapy to the head and neck causes some swelling and inflammation in the voice box,” she said.
‘It’s not uncommon for people to develop a hoarse voice during treatment and it doesn’t always get better.
‘So it was a real fear and it was definitely a big one for someone who makes a living using their voice.’
Rhod discussed his fears for the future in the documentary: ‘I’m worried that the radiotherapy could seriously damage my voice.
‘I’m a stand-up so this treatment could save my life but kill my career.’
He underwent surgery for metastatic head and neck cancer, followed by sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy which he described as ‘brutal’ (pictured in 2021)
When did Rhod Gilbert get it all figured out?
In October 2023, the comedian shared that he had received his first clear scan after undergoing treatment for stage four cancer.
Talking to Radio TimesRhod described finding out his cancer had not spread as ‘the best day of my life’.
He recalled: ‘I was back on the road earlier this year, I got a call to say my latest scan had shown the cancer was in the areas they knew about but it wasn’t in my lungs or my brain. ‘
Then he got his first clear scan and said: ‘The best thing was the tumor was gone and it was a normal blood vessel again.’
Rhod’s cancer journey had been captured on his Channel 4 documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.
Rhod described the decision to film the difficult period in his life: ‘I was in bed on Friday, with my treatment due to start the following Monday.
‘I called the team I knew – there was no TV station on board, it was all on spec – and I asked, “How would you like to be on this trip?”
‘It was partly for me. I had canceled all my TV work and trips and I wanted something other than “cancer” in my diary.
‘I knew I wouldn’t be well enough to go on stage or TV, but I thought I might be well enough to lie in bed and talk to a documentary crew about how sick I was. I thought, “It will give me something to do”.’
A month before in September 2023, Rhod announced that he planned to return to the stage and planned his comedy tour in 2024, admitting that “life is too short”.
His last tour, Book Of John, ran from 2019 to June 2023 due to interruptions with his health and the pandemic.
In an interview on BBC Radio Wales, Rhod said he was very grateful to Velindre Cancer Center for ‘getting me back on my feet’.
He added: ‘My new attitude is that life is too short, you have to go on and do these things.’
‘I’ve been scribbling away, I’ve got a few ideas and I’ve tried some things.
In October 2023, Rhod had his first clear scan after undergoing treatment for stage four cancer (pictured in 2018)
‘I think I’ll be touring again next year, it’s all taking shape at the moment.’
Rhod has previously revealed that he wanted his cancer diagnosis as stand-up material, adding that there is “humor in it.”
Chat with The Guardian, he admitted: ‘It feels weird. I don’t know how much to talk about the cancer. I haven’t really figured out what to say.
‘I’m really aware of mental health now and I check in with myself every day. I’m fine, oddly enough. I am happy, optimistic and hope that everything will go well next year.
‘Once I get through this, the next show will be the same way. Cancer is on my mind 24/7, but when I’m well enough to write, I jot down a few things. And there’s humor in there, definitely.’
