First Dates bartender Merlin Griffiths has given a health update amid his ongoing cancer battle.
The Channel 4 star announced that he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in September of last year. He told of how he was set to face a year of treatment with doctors telling him he has a 75% chance of living more than five years. Medics found a 4.5cm stage three tumour.
Now, six months on, the 46-year-old has said that he is due to undergo “robotic surgery” in under a month, as he continues his cancer journey. He announced the news on Twitter.
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Merlin Tweeted: "Operation scheduled. 3 weeks to get my s**t together. Robotic surgery, welcome to the future!" He later thanked fans on the post for their kind words, as he said: "Thank you to everyone wishing me well. X... May your lives be prosperous and filled with empathy and happiness."
In September last year, Merlin revealed his diagnosis in an interview with Sunday Mirror, as he promised: "I won't let it get the better of me." He explained how he started feeling a pain in his stomach in June, which he thought was caused by scar tissue in his stomach from a car accident when he was younger.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, he described his pain: “I was living with this huge discomfort. It felt like a walnut stuck inside me.” After a visit to the gastroenterologist, Merlin's doctors discovered a 4.5cm stage three malignant tumour which would need chemotherapy to treat.
Merlin added: “I thought, as most people must when they get a diagnosis, ‘Oh f***, I’ve got cancer’. I also wanted to know, what are my chances of surviving? It’s terrifying – of course I want to live."
He continued: “I’ve shed a tear in private. But you can choose ‘to do’ or ‘not to do’. I chose to lead my life as normal, to stick to the facts about it, and to keep putting one step in front of the other.” The celebrity barman is determined to defeat the illness and keep living his life to its fullest potential.
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