Cancer warning issued by Heckington's veteran TV and radio presenter

Tom Edwards, a former presenter on BBC Look East, Thames Television, BBC radio and legendary Radio Caroline, is undergoing 23 bouts of radiation therapy after going to his village GP in August with concerns that a lump may be a hernia.

Tom, 79, said: “I thought it was nothing serious until Dr Shrouder told me, ‘it’s not a hernia’.

"It was such a shock to me. I then had lots of tests, scans and a painful sample of my bone marrow from my hip to find out exactly what it was.

"I wasn’t prepared for all the travelling and hanging around and the radiation therapy at Lincoln County Hospital knocks me for six."

Tom has been told they have caught the cancer at ‘stage 1’. He said: "My doctor is confident. I have turned down chemotherapy and have done my homework. We plan to blast this growth.”

He urged everyone with any doubts to get checked out without delay.

Tom thought he had dodged cancer having celebrated nearly 30 years of sobriety after treatment at the Ferdowse Clinic for alcohol dependency in Heckington.

He feels in good company: “I am a great Royalist and when His Majesty the King came out and said he had cancer and then Kate I said ‘snap’.”

He had to miss the 60th anniversary of Radio Caroline due to treatment but hopes to get to the 60th anniversary reunion for BBC Look East.