Monty Python star Eric Idle has revealed that he survived pancreatic cancer after receiving a rare - and lucky - early diagnosis three years ago.
The comedian, 79, has said that he feels "incredibly lucky" and hopes to raise awareness.
Only 25% of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in England survive their disease for one year or more, according to Cancer Research UK, making it the most deadly form of cancer to have.
Speaking to TIME, he said: "About three years ago I was incredibly lucky: I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Lucky? One of the most lethal forms of cancer, how on earth was that lucky? Well, because it was found incredibly early. No, not before lunchtime, but before it had gone anywhere."
In 2009, Eric revealed that he had been writing a play when he asked a friend - who was a doctor - how to kill a character off quickly. They responded that pancreatic cancer would be the most sudden cause of death as those diagnosed "may only have three weeks.
Ten years later, his same doctor friend took him for a variety of tests at imaging facilities. While he was having an MRI, his friend noticed a slightly high marker and asked the facility to take a closer look at his pancreas.
Eric's friend later asked to meet him and he could tell it was serious and was told he had pancreatic cancer.
"Of course I find it funny," he said. "How could I not? Here’s Kipper giving me the diagnosis I asked him for 10 years ago. What’s my life motto? Entropy and Irony. Both pigeons limping home to roost.
"He and the MRI technician gaze at the ghost of a tumor sitting in the middle of my pancreas. It is intact. It is unattached. But it is undeniably, most probably, the C thing. However, this little puppy is still fairly new. It hasn’t burst or spread."
Thankfully, a surgeon was able to operate and remove the cancer.
Sharing the moment he was told it had been removed after the operation, he said: "A few days later he confirms the results. It was pancreatic cancer.
"He has cut it all out. It was not attached to anything and my lymph nodes were clear. The cancer is gone. They could find no further trace in my body. I had been a dead man walking. I am going to live. Only then do I cry."
