The telltale sign could easily be mistaken for a symptom of a seasonal illness such as a cold or Covid but GP Neel Patel warns it could be laryngeal cancer Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter We have more newsletters People have been urged to speak to their GP if they experience a specific symptom for three weeks or longer following the shock cancer diagnosis of TV and radio presenter Jamie Theakston. Heart Radio host Jamie recently revealed he had laryngeal cancer, or cancer of the larynx. On his Instagram account, the 53-year-old explained he had undergone surgery to remove the cancerous lesion and his outlook was now “positive”.
Since his announcement, the NHS website has reported a 13-fold increase in searches for laryngeal cancer over the past week. The disease is thought to affect around 2,000 people in the UK every year but despite these numbers it is relatively unknown. A new survey of 500 UK adults carried out by Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor showed that 60 percent of the population had never heard of laryngeal cancer, and six percent had only heard of it for the first time in relation to Jamie Theakston.
The survey also revealed that almost nine in 10 people (88 percent) would not feel confident in identifying symptoms of laryngeal cancer. In a bid to change this, GP Doctor Neel Patel from Lloyds explain.
