Radio legend Chris Stark has opened up about the support he has received since sharing his testicular cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment less than two months ago
Capital FM star Chris Stark has revealed he was left blown away by the response from fans after sharing his testicular cancer news. In March this year, Chris, 38, took to social media to reveal he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer after a trip to his GP.
After being diagnosed with the condition, the broadcaster underwent a course of chemotherapy and operations to ensure that the disease wouldn’t return. At the time of going public, Chris revealed he didn’t spot the signs sooner but hoped that his male followers and listeners would seek medical help if they spotted any lumps or bumps on their testes.
Now, he has exclusively revealed to the Mirror that he was “amazed” by the response he received on his social media. He said: “I was amazed by the response, this has been going on a little while for me, a couple of months roughly in my personal life. It’s something I kind of hid from the radio and from the show – mainly because I didn’t want to burden people. That’s kind of been my attitude to a lot of things.
“After I’d gone through chemotherapy, I did decide to talk about it, and the response has been amazing and very heartwarming. But I almost feel a bit selfish about this, it felt like such an amazing validation of talking really honestly about something that you’re going through.
“The best thing about it because I really think my main motivation wasn’t about wanting sympathy or giving too much of my personal life – it was more to say ‘I’ve got this thing and if you’re hearing this that you might think about going and checking yourself.'” Chris initially believed that he wouldn’t hear back from any of his followers.
However, this was not the case after several friends and followers said his post may have saved lives. “I didn’t do it for that validation,” he explained before adding: “One of the most amazing things has been since talking about it on the show and podcast has been the amount of DMs (direct messages), I’ve had from blokes up and down the UK who have sent me a message just to say ‘I’ve been putting off something for a while and I’ve decided to go to the doctors.’
“It’s just incredible to read that, or people who’ve gone and checked themselves and found something and have booked in. I’m so proud to have done that. But in terms of what it’s meant to me in doing the radio show every day and being honest and talking about this, it’s just shown me what I love about doing radio and what a force for good radio could be.
“And I think now more than ever, I think radio has such an important role, or more importantly, can have such an important role in people’s lives. My own health has brought that massively into sharp focus and really made me appreciate the power of the show, what it can do and what it should do also.”
Chris recently teamed up with Dreams on their Bed Chemistry campaign, discussing looking after his own health and sleep due to having to wake up every weekday at 4am for work. “Sleep is not something that I’d really, I don’t know, maybe put so much importance on,” he explained.
However, he admits that the campaign brought it to focus how important a good sleep routine was. During his conversations with members of the public, Chris discovered the term “bed chem” – how compatible a person is with the individual they share a bed with. “I’ve realised largely it’s my fault that I’m not particularly sleep compatible with my wife,” he laughed reflecting on his early wake-ups.
He added: “It started from the point of someone who doesn’t get much sleep so linking up with Dreams seemed like a really obvious choice and a really funny thing to go and explore but it has ended up sort of leading into my real life.” Chris admits his wake up call is a “tricky one” for his family when his body gets a “massive shock” when his alarm clock goes off.
Speaking about getting up and ready for his day at work, he explained: “It’s a very stressful part of my day but having a nice bed and everything, I’ve always appreciated getting some sleep – everyone appreciates it. But since linking up with Dreams, it’s definitely something I’m trying to kind of improve in, in every area.”
The star who also appeared on BBC Radio 1 alongside close friend Scott Mills admits his new partnership has “opened up a few questions”, admitting he often worried about his health due to not getting enough sleep. “There’s another side to this as well,” he said before expanding: “If you are going to have fewer hours and you can’t help it, it’s important your quality of sleep is good. That’s something I’m trying to consider and give more focus to and probably something at the very least I’m more aware of.”
Despite his early starts, Chris believes he’s not “disciplined enough” to have a sensible evening routine as he doesn’t want to “miss out on life.” He said: “It’s important to sound awake but it’s also important to feel really kind of plugged into the world. I’ve had times where I’ve been doing this breakfast show, where it sort of feels like you might have lost yourself a little bit or rightly so, napping all afternoon or not present seeing mates.
“I do sort of worry about missing out on things, it’s all about balance and I think at times, I think I’ve struggled with balance doing this show. But it’s something I’m feeling in a better place with at the moment.” But Chris admits he’s “fallen in love” with the Capital Breakfast show and his new role on the programme.
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply