Only Fools and Horses actor Patrick Murray, who is best known for playing Mickey Pearce, revealed he was told he wouldn't make it to Christmas after being diagnosed with cancer.
The 65-year-old shared news of his devastating illness earlier this week.
Patrick explained the first primary diagnosis was "actually a lot worse than what it was", adding to The Sun : "It showed up a lot of red flags that I had a tumour on my liver and three metastatics - which is cancer of the blood.
"I was told it looks like I wouldn’t make Christmas."
He continued: "But the PET scan did show there was a tumour in my lung so I had that removed in October. They caught it early and right now I’m on chemo to make sure it doesn’t come back. If I left it a couple of months later, I could have been in real trouble. I probably wouldn’t be here now."
After opening up about his illness this week, Patrick tweeted: "Naturally I wanted to keep my own health problems private, but failing to fully endorse this ad would be selfish.
"Thanks to my ultrascan I have a fighting chance.
"It showed my organs needed further investigation and tumours were spotted.
"This led to a PET scan which covers a much larger area. To my wonderful surprise these lesions were not cancerous but the scan did find an early-stage cancerous tumour in my lung. This has since been removed."
The star concluded: "A lot of people put these symptoms down to age and the discomfort to simply having a weak stomach. Please don’t ignore it if it persists. As for me, and thanks to the NHS, I can now see the same beautiful horizon as you."
Patrick appeared in a total of 20 episodes of Only Fool And Horses, which also starred David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney Trotter.
Since the show finished in 2003, Patrick has landed roles in big-screen productions, including The Firm and Curse Of The Pink Panther.
After a couple more years of acting, Patrick eventually retired and became a taxi driver in Kent.
He was then forced to quit working altogether amid his battle with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The condition causes a large number of breathing difficulties for those effected.
Patrick also has a wife, married his wifem Anong, 36, who he married in Pattaya, Thailand in 2016.
