Chris Stark has made an emotional return to Captial Breakfast after revealing that he has secretly been battling testicular cancer for the past two months.
The radio DJ, 38, was embraced by co-hosts Jordan North and Sian Welby as he took his place next to them on Tuesday morning having taken time out to undergo treatment.
Stark bravely detailed his cancer battle in a health update shared to social media on Monday, including that he had undergone surgery and chemotherapy.
In a clip shared to Capital’s official Instagram account, Welby could be heard saying: “Group hug, group hug, We've missed you Chris! We're so glad to have you back!”
The sweet post was captioned: “Group hugs for our wonderful @chrisstark. We ae so happy to have you back!”
Stark later shared the same post on his own account, writing: “It's good to be back”.
A further clip showed him discussing his diagnosis on the air, with Welby hailing him a “tropper” as it was revealed he had previously come in not long after having surgery to remove a testicle.
“You were going through all of that and nobody would have known,” she told him, to which he simply nodded.
Explaining that he had only started chemotherapy last week, Stark said that the intention was “preventative to stop it [the cancer] coming back than cure anything”.
Describing having chemotherapy as “rubbish” and “horrible”, he noted that “a lot of people go through this and I’m very aware of that.”
He went on to say that he has made the decision to talk about his health issues to address the “stigma” around this type of cancer and hopes to encourage other men to check themselves, particularly those in the 18-49 age bracket in which he says it is “most common”.
“@chrisstark We are so happy to have you back and on the mend! It’s incredible to hear your story” the radio station’s Instagram account wrote in the accompanying caption.
