Inside Rhod Gilbert’s ‘brutal’ cancer battle as comedian prepares for The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer

Rhod Gilbert will set foot in the Celebrity Bake Off tent on March 17 for the Stand Up to Cancer special.

Hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding welcome 20 stars to the tent for the Stand Up To Cancer special, where their efforts will be judged by Paul Hollywood and Dame Prue Leith.

A host of celebrities, including Mel B, Oti Mabuse and Danny Dyer, will compete in the tent for the coveted baking title.

Comedian Rhod, 55, received his first clear scan in October 2023 after being diagnosed with head and neck cancer in 2022.

MailOnline watch the comedian’s courageous and ‘brutal’ battle against the disease.

The comedian had his first clear scan in October 2023 after being diagnosed with head and neck cancer the year before (pictured in 2016)

As Rhod prepared to compete for the coveted baking title, MailOnline looks at the comedian’s courageous and ‘brutal’ battle against the disease.

Rhod Gilbert was first diagnosed with head and neck cancer after finding a lump in April 2022.

The comedian, 55, was treated at the Velindre Cancer Center in Cardiff, a treatment center he had been a patron of for ten years.

In an interview with Stand Up 2 Cancer in 2023, Rhod explained: ‘So about ten years ago a small cancer center in Cardiff called Velindre approached me and said, “Do you want to be a patron, do you know an ambassador?”

“I said, ‘Yes,’ and I’ve been involved with them ever since.”

Discussing the decade of fundraising for the Kilimanjaro and Patagonia center trek, the comedian added: “They have been a huge part of my life over the last ten years.

‘So imagine my surprise when I was diagnosed, which bothered me endlessly because I thought I would have lifelong immunity, apparently not.

“Apparently you’re just as likely to get cancer even if you spend your time fundraising for a cancer hospital,” he joked.

The Carmarthen-born comedian first discovered the lump in his neck while raising money for the center while trekking through Cuba.

“The other irony is that I was in Cuba raising money for this cancer center when the first bloody lump appeared on my neck,” he said.

“I left, literally left as a patron and came back as a patient.”

Prior to his diagnosis, Rhod revealed that he suffered from pain in his neck and sore throat and often had trouble breathing.

After experiencing spasms in his face and tightness in his muscles, a biopsy revealed that the comedian had head and neck cancer.

Rhod said: ‘I couldn’t talk or breathe and I was postponing and canceling tour shows, I had terrible spasms in my face and a lot of tightness in my muscles.

He underwent surgery for metastatic cancer in the head and neck, followed by daily sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Rhod was diagnosed with cancer in his neck and throat, on a tonsil and at the base of his tongue, after finding a lump in April 2022

He discovered that while raising money for the Velindre Cancer Center during a hike in Cuba, Rhod said, “I left, literally left as a patron and came back as a patient.”

What treatment did Rhod Gilbert receive?

Rhod’s road to recovery has been anything but ‘easy’, with the grateful comedian describing his treatment as ‘brutal’.

Head and neck specialist at Velindre, Professor Mererid Evans, described Rhod’s radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment as ‘particularly difficult’.

In an interview with the BBC Walesshe explained that radiotherapy treatment of certain parts of the throat and mouth can cause ‘large ulcers’ that only get worse over a six-week period.

She added that the ulcers sometimes make swallowing so painful and difficult that a feeding tube is required, a procedure we saw Rhod undergo in his 2023 documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.

Mererid explained that byproducts of the aggressive treatment sometimes include fatigue, nausea, vomiting and infections, which can take months to recover from.

“Radiotherapy to the head and neck causes some swelling and inflammation in the larynx,” she said.

‘It is not uncommon for people to develop a hoarse voice during treatment, and that does not always improve.

“So that was a real fear, and it was obviously a great fear for someone who makes a living using his voice.”

Rhod talked about his fears for the future in the documentary: ‘I am afraid that the radiotherapy will seriously damage my voice.

“I’m a stand-up, so this treatment might save my life, but it might kill my career.”

He underwent surgery for metastatic head and neck cancer, followed by sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy which he described as ‘brutal’ (pictured in 2021)

When did Rhod Gilbert get the all clear?

In October 2023, the comedian revealed he had his first clear scan after undergoing treatment for stage four cancer.

Speak with Radio timesRhod described discovering that his cancer had not spread as “the best day of my life.”

He recalled, “Earlier this year I was on the road again. I was called to say that my last scan had shown that the cancer was in the areas they knew about, but not in my lungs or brain.’

Then he got his first clear scan and said: ‘The best thing was that the tumor was gone, and it was a normal blood vessel again.’

Rhod’s cancer journey was included in his Channel 4 documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain In The Neck.

Speaking about the decision to film the difficult period in his life, Rhod said: ‘On Friday I was in bed with my treatment due to start the following Monday.

‘I called the team I knew – there was no broadcaster on board, it was all to spec – and I said, ‘How would you like to come on this journey with me?’

‘It was partly for me. I had canceled all my TV work and tours and I wanted to have something other than ‘cancer’ on my agenda.

‘I knew I wouldn’t be good enough to go on stage or on TV, but I thought maybe I would be good enough to lie in bed and talk to a documentary team about how sick I was. I thought, ‘It’ll give me something to do.’

A month earlier, in September 2023, Rhod announced that he was planning to return to the stage and was planning his comedy tour for 2024, confessing that “life is too short.”

His last tour, Book Of John, ran from 2019 to June 2023 due to health breaks and the pandemic.

In an interview on BBC Radio Wales, Rhod said he was very grateful to the Velindre Cancer Center for ‘helping him get on his feet’.

He added: ‘My new attitude is that life is too short, you have to persevere and do these things.’

‘I’ve been doing some scribbling, I’ve got a few ideas and I’ve tried some things out.

In October 2023, Rhod underwent his first clear scan after undergoing treatment for stage four cancer (pictured in 2018)

‘I think I’ll go on tour again next year, it’s all starting to take shape.’

Rhod has previously revealed he would use his cancer diagnosis as stand-up material, adding that there is ‘humor in it’.

Chat with The guard, he admitted, “It feels weird. I don’t know how much to talk about the cancer. I don’t really know what to say.

‘I’m really aware of mental health now and check in with myself every day. I feel fine, strangely enough. I’m happy, optimistic and hopeful that everything will work out next year.

“If I get through this, the next show will be in the same spirit. I think about the cancer 24/7, but when I’m well enough to write, I jot down a few things. And there is certainly humor in it.’