GPs urged to tell patients about the ‘cardiac blues’
Rhod Gilbert Left With Long-term Condition After Devastating Cancer Battle
Exclusive:
Rhod Gilbert said some things still taste weird after his cancer ordeal (Image: CHANNEL4)
Rhod Gilbert has revealed he is still facing some problems with his health following his cancer ordeal, but counts himself as one of the lucky ones.
The comedian was diagnosed with stage four head and neck cancer back in 2022, after suffering from symptoms such as; a sore throat, a persistent cough, struggles with swallowing, and choking.
Following radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at Cardiff's Velindre Cancer Centre, the 56-year-old received the all-clear last year and now has regular ENT camera checks every six months.
Sharing an exclusive update about his health post-cancer, Rhod said while he's in a much better place, he still has problems in his neck, throat and mouth area, as well as issues with his taste.
"I've tried to cut down on booze, I gave up smoking, but years ago I gave up smoking anyway," he shared of his lifestyle post-cancer. "I guess I'm a bit more conscious now than what I was, but equally, cancer leaves you in this weird place where you want to grab life by the short and curlies."
Rhod Gilbert was given the all-clear for head and neck cancer last year (Image:
FACEBOOK/RHODGILBERT)The comedian went on to say he particularly feels "very lucky" to have regained most of his taste back, but admits some things still taste "weird".
With added difficulties swallowing at the time, he was also fed through a machine for eight months. "With head and neck cancer, quite often, everything tastes disgusting with head and neck, even water, even a cup of tea, everything is disgusting," he explained.
"Not now, but I'm still left with some problems, so tea still tastes a bit odd, lots of things taste weird still. My taste is almost, sort of 80 per cent back to normal, my swallowing is pretty good, but at the time, you can't swallow and everything tastes disgusting.
"Food is horrible, I mean you're being fed by a machine straight into your stomach, with head and neck cancer quite often, because you can't swallow as it's too painful."
The comedian is currently touring the UK and Ireland (Image:
INSTAGRAM)According to Macmillan, losing your taste can be a side effect to radiotherapy. The website states: "You may lose your sense of taste or find everything tastes the same. The taste is usually quite metallic or salty. Your sense of taste should recover, but it may take many months for this to happen."
Despite some problems still present, Rhod said he is surprised by how good he feels while back on stage for his Rhod Gilbert and The Giant Grapefruit tour.
He continued: "I feel great, my energy levels are good and I'm just really happy to be up there. I can't believe really quite how well I feel, I've got problems in my neck, throat area and my mouth area, but other than that, I feel great."
Rhod is currently playing over 130 dates at venues across the UK and Ireland, running until November 2025. Tickets and tour dates can be found here.
Cancer Drug Shows Potential To Extend Lifespan
Scientists from the University of Auckland have made an intriguing discovery in the pursuit of longer life. A study has shown that a drug called alpelisib, originally developed to treat cancer, can extend the lifespan of healthy mice.
While the findings are promising, the researchers caution against drawing quick conclusions for human application.
In the study, middle-aged mice (about one year old) were fed either a regular diet or the same diet supplemented with alpelisib. The mice that received the drug lived around 10% longer, with their average lifespan increasing to approximately three years.
Beyond living longer, these mice also showed signs of better health in their later years, including improved coordination and physical strength.
However, the study also revealed potential downsides. Mice treated with alpelisib had lower bone density, a sign of aging. These mixed results suggest that while the drug may hold promise for extending life, it may come with trade-offs.
The researchers emphasized that their findings do not mean people should start using this drug to try to extend their lives, especially given the potential side effects.
The focus of the study was on an enzyme called PI 3-kinase, which alpelisib targets. For over 20 years, scientists have studied this enzyme because it plays a role in how cells grow and survive.
Many cancers involve overactive PI 3-kinase pathways, which is why drugs like alpelisib were developed. The new findings suggest that targeting this pathway might also influence aging and age-related conditions.
The researchers see this study as a step forward in understanding the biology of aging. It highlights mechanisms that could be key to developing treatments that not only extend lifespan but also improve health during aging.
While long-term use of alpelisib may not be safe, shorter treatments could potentially be useful for certain metabolic health conditions, and the team is exploring these possibilities further.
This research also underscores the broader value of studying drugs over the long term. What begins as a treatment for one condition, like cancer, can lead to unexpected applications in other areas, such as aging.
The discovery opens doors to further research on how PI 3-kinase and related pathways contribute to age-related diseases.
Although this work is focused on mice, it provides a foundation for future studies that could one day lead to breakthroughs in human aging and health.
The researchers, led by Dr. Chris Hedges, published their findings in Nature Aging. They hope their work will inspire continued exploration into treatments that enhance both lifespan and quality of life.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies that plant-based diets may reduce risk of colorectal cancer in men, and Low-fat diet may help stop cancer growth.
For more information about cancer, please see recent studies about How to harness the power of anti-cancer foods and supplements and results showing that Empower your plate: cancer-fighting foods and recipes.
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A New CHOP Research Program Is Exploring Ways To Reduce Long-term Effects Of Cancer Treatment
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At 8 years old, Raine Talley spent a lot of time in and out of children's hospitals in Philadelphia and Delaware to get treatment for leukemia, a type of blood cancer that weakens the body's immune system.
"As a kid, you weirdly accept a lot of stuff," Talley said. "Like when you're in third grade, you just get a bone marrow transplant. It's kind of just what happens."
Chemotherapy treatment and a bone marrow transplant, followed by radiation, eventually cured Talley's leukemia. But that wasn't the end of her journey with cancer.
Over a decade later, while in college, doctors found early-stage thyroid cancer, one of the most common secondary cancers for people who've been exposed to radiation, especially as children.
Now at 27 years old, Talley is being treated for kidney cancer, which her doctors suspect may be linked to prior cancer treatment, but can't prove that with certainty.
"One day, I was rock climbing, living my normal life, and then the next day, I was having some really bad side pain," she said. "They did a CT scan, and they found a kidney mass. I think that was sort of the full circle moment for me." 
Rainey Talley, who grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania, pictured with her two siblings, was about 8 years old when she was treated for leukemia. She got chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and radiation at hospitals in Philadelphia and Delaware. Since surviving childhood leukemia, Talley beat early-state thyroid cancer while in college. Now 27, she was diagnosed with kidney cancer earlier this year. (Courtesy of Raine Talley)
Advancements in cancer treatments like chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, transplants and surgery have allowed more and more children to survive their diseases.
But the same treatments that are saving people's lives can later cause delayed hormone development, infertility and secondary cancers, or chronic health complications like muscle and bone weakness and impaired vision and hearing.
A new research program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will focus exclusively on the long-term effects of cancer treatment in children and identify interventions that can reduce some of these health complications in survivors as they become teenagers and adults.
"Everyone focuses on the cure, but I think cure alone is absolutely not enough. You need to focus on quality of the cure," said Sogol "Goli" Mostoufi-Moab, CHOP endocrinologist and oncologist. "When you come to the late effects clinics, you become aware of the many chronic health challenges our survivors experience that impact their day-to-day quality of life."
Mostoufi-Moab, who is the program director of the new Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Outcomes Research Program, said the project builds upon a long history of research and work at CHOP to study the effects of chemotherapy and radiation, which are extremely effective in curing many kinds of cancers, but they can be harsh on the body.
"The hallmark of early survivorship studies was to really put late effects on the map, to describe, for example, that if you received radiation to the chest, you could develop life-threatening cardiovascular events in early adulthood," she said. "Now, we have reached a point that we need to focus on the opportunity to stop or prevent many of these late effects from occurring in the first place."
Cancer survivors often find themselves keeping track of specialist appointments, MRI or CT tests, other medical screenings, bloodwork and additional treatments years after their initial disease was cured or went into remission.
It sometimes feels like a full-time job, said Talley, who has been working at an animation studio in Portland, Oregon.
"People talked about cancer survivorship like, 'Oh, you're done. You survived.' And like, 'Everything's good now, you've done it,'" she said. "And really, the most work is after."
Constantly being on the lookout for a long list of potential late-term effects from her prior cancer treatments can be overwhelming, Talley said.
"Sometimes you feel like, is this just the cut and paste list that they give to everyone or am I specifically at a high risk for these types of things? Like, do I actually need to be worried about that?" she said.
Navigating the years and decades after surviving cancer can come with burdens and challenges that extend beyond the medical aspects, Mostoufi-Moab said. These challenges can impact mental health, lifestyle, financial stability, social life and more.
"I think it can really be a challenge for a young adult survivor of childhood cancer to feel like they are having the same adulthood experience as their peers," said Mostoufi-Moab.
The first time Henry Korneffel realized that he was different than his peers was when he was a child and getting treatment for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, a rare form of the disease.
"It was probably kindergarten, first grade, and I had to have a feeding tube all the time, and I remember I'd have to skip school sometimes to get it changed," he said.
Korneffel and his family lived in Colorado, but his parents brought him to CHOP for treatment, which included chemotherapy, full-body radiation, a bone marrow transplant and a partial splenectomy over the course of several years. 
Henry Korneffel, pictured with his mother and others, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia around his first birthday and was successfully treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He and his family often traveled from their home in Colorado to Philadelphia to see specialists at CHOP. He spent a lot of time at the hospital for cancer treatment and the occasional Halloween party held for kids. (Courtesy of Henry Korneffel)
The treatment plan cured his leukemia, but it later caused delayed growth and hormone development as Korneffel aged, and he needed to take medication to help.
When he was 18, Korneffel was again diagnosed with cancer. This time, it was a tumor in his right thigh that was successfully treated with chemotherapy and surgery, but that left him with some swelling and nerve damage to this day.
Now 24 years old, Korneffel lives and works in Los Angeles. He hopes cancer treatment is behind him, but he knows that all his past treatments still put him at a higher risk of future health complications.
"I don't think that dread really ever goes away," he said. "But you need to find things in life that really bring you joy. I'm lucky I've had such an incredible time finding new friends, being in a new city and having a medical system behind me that is so supportive."
For Talley, she said surrounding herself with family and friends, staying present and not stressing too much about what's ahead helps her manage the daily challenges of surviving cancer each time.
"I like to kind of know what's coming up, but sometimes you don't know that and you just have to take what you can get," Talley said. "You have to let go of that kind of control, because you don't have it. That's something I am definitely working on."
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