Dermot Murnaghan issues plea in first live interview since stage four cancer diagnosis

Dermot Murnaghan speaks out on stage four cancer and how he was diagnosedSky News

Transcript

00:00How did you find out your diagnosis?

00:03I mean, that's particularly pertinent when it comes to prostate cancer

00:05because there is no formal screening programme, i.e. proactive on the behalf of the NHS

00:10when it comes to men wanting to be screened.

00:13They do have a right to be screened, but they actually have to ask for it

00:17rather than be offered it, as often happens with other cancers.

00:23So in my own case, yeah, I fell through those gaps.

00:27I mean, I foolishly sat in your position for many, many years

00:32speaking to people about this very issue and talking about men,

00:36particularly over the age of 50, men in high-risk groups,

00:39you may have a history of it, in their family, to go and ask for the screening.

00:43And I kept thinking, you know, once I got over that age,

00:46I'll go and do that, I'm hearing what they're saying, but I'm fine.

00:49The other telltale sign is, of course, symptoms,

00:52and I think most people know what they are.

00:53You know, frequent urination in the evening is a particular one.

00:57At night time.

00:58But I didn't have any of that.

01:00So I kept thinking, OK, well, you know, I'll get round to it.

01:03Life intervenes, jobs, children, holidays, all kinds of things.

01:07And I never did.

01:09So, you know, what happened was, at the end of last year,

01:12I fell very ill on a foreign holiday

01:16and, you know, kind of rushed back here to get treated

01:19by a wonderful health service and was diagnosed.

01:22Real bulk from the blue.

01:23It's easy to do.

01:24It's easy to do.