Stand Up To Cancer presenter Dr Christian Jessen explains why he is excited to be helping dispel some myths surrounding cancer and why the disease has had such a big impact on his own life…
by Newsdesk | 17th October 2014
Are you looking forward to helping present Stand Up To Cancer?
It is very exciting and I do feel honoured to be asked again. I loved it last time. It was a huge job but it is such a good cause and there was a great feeling amongst everyone involved. I really did think we did stunningly well in how much we raised in 2012. For a first telethon, it raised record amounts. I was thrilled.
Why is this cause so special for you?
As a doctor, cancer is always in the back of your mind. You live in terror of having to diagnose it to someone or missing it in someone. It is ever present throughout your life. For your patients, if they have a lump or unusual mole, or something, cancer may well be on their mind too. Naturally I do dread it when I have to tell someone they have cancer. Although you know treatments are improving all the time, it is not a great thing to have.
What will be your main role on the night?
There is going to be a lot more science this time. This is very important. People fear cancer a lot. They don’t understand it. What is cancer? Is it one thing or lots of things? How does it work? We are going to look at it a lot more. The more people know, the more in control they feel.
One thing is for certain – we will be busting some cancer myths. This year we want to focus on some of the cancers or symptoms that people might feel embarrassed about. Shame and embarrassment are putting us off the things we should be doing and so we want to look at prostate cancer in men and bowel cancer. The symptoms might lead to embarrassment and we don’t want to talk about it. But why should it be embarrassing? There is nothing embarrassing about it.
I also want people to understand trials a lot more. They can be expensive but why are they important? We can only do clinical trials if people with diseases agree to take part. People are suspicious and think ‘oh no I won’t get the right treatment, I won’t do that’ but if we don’t have people taking part, we can’t progress forward and make discoveries. Stand Up To Cancer is definitely about raising money, raising hope and raising understanding.
How do you keep a straight face with Alan?!
That’s what makes it so much fun! We are good friends and we get on really well. If it’s really sad, we just cry and if it’s funny, we have a giggle. Who knows what is going to happen! The great excitement with live telly is if I suddenly get the giggles, I suddenly get the giggles! If someone donated a million pounds on the night in exchange for you doing something very daft, would you be up for the challenge?! I probably would!
Do you personally fear cancer?
Being a doctor makes it worse. Doctors aren’t very good at looking after ourselves. We spend all day looking after people and so it’s fair to say we neglect ourselves a little bit. By this I mean, if we see a bump, we might leave it a little bit longer. It’s only because you want to switch off. Everyone knows someone. I fear it in my friends, family, and my partner and because I am a doctor, I am the person people ring up!
Have you been personally affected by cancer?
My mother had breast cancer. She is fine now but it was a very difficult time. I was a medical student at the time. I only had a bit of knowledge and so this was a particularly terrifying thing. She had a bit of a lump in her breast and there was an odd feeling and a bit of pain. Within a few days, she was rushed in to have the lump removed and then she had to go back to have more removed. In the end, she said ‘you are not getting rid of it, let’s remove the whole breast’. She had a mastectomy on one side and then had it reconstructed. It was very, very difficult. There was that element of ‘you just don’t know’. It is not nice for anybody but thankfully she is fine now and her treatment worked. Sadly a very good school friend of mine died recently after battling bowel cancer. That came as such a shock to me when she was diagnosed, she was my age. As a 30-something, you don’t feel it is an age where you could get cancer – even though it’s much more common in older people. It’s really sad.
Do you take care of yourself?
I do work out a lot and I exercise a lot. I eat healthily. I do follow my own advice in that respect. Cancer isn’t inevitable. Having a family history of a relative who has had cancer doesn’t automatically mean you will get cancer or there is nothing you can do about it. More than four in ten cancers could be prevented by lifestyle changes. This means you are more in control than you think you are. There is a lot you can do to decrease your risk. Unfortunately, the more pessimistic people go ‘what you are saying is my fault I have got cancer’. Of course it’s not. You can take your life into your hands a little more comfortably than you think you can.
Quitting smoking and enjoying the sun safely are two factors aren’t they?
Yes. Even though we all know we shouldn’t smoke because of the dangers there are still plenty of smokers. But it’s also about the diet you choose to eat. Weight and exercise are two of the most important things – after being a non-smoker - you can keep an eye on to reduce your cancer risk. It’s simple really. It’s not about looking serious in a gym. You can do it!
And finally, why do you want people to pick up the phone and donate?
We are very close to making some major breakthroughs with cancer. The more trials we can do, the closer we can get to finding more and more effective treatments that are less damaging and wearying for body. A lot of people will agree a lot of treatments are extremely arduous to go through. The more we can do, the more effective treatments we can pinpoint. They are in a lab test tube. They may already be in existence but, they must be properly researched. We haven’t used them on humans yet. We will do our best to have fun on the night. It’s so worth it. There is nothing wrong in feeling proud of this. You can all feel proud to speed up cures for cancer.
Stand Up to Cancer is on Channel 4 on Tonight
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