Jamie Theakston is the latest star to reveal that he has laryngeal cancer, a type of throat cancer that strikes over 2,000 Brits a year.
The Heart Radio presenter, 53, took to Instagram to share his health update after previously revealing he booked an appointment with doctors after listeners noticed there was something wrong with his voice.
Changes to a person’s voice is one the classic symptoms of the disease. Anyone noticing they have had a hoarse voice for more than three weeks is urged to speak to their GP.
Throat cancer is not a medical term with doctors instead distinguishing cancers that develop in this part of the body into two main types.
These are cancers of the larynx, like what Theakston has, and those of the pharynx a hollow, muscular tube inside the neck that starts behind the nose and opens into the larynx and windpipe.
Heart Radio presenter Jamie Theakston, pictured with stand-in co-host Davina McCall, revealed on Instagram that he booked an appointment with doctors after listeners had noticed there was something not quite right with his voice
For many people like Theakston the first noticeable symptom is a sore throat, but experts warn an earache is a less well-known warning sign
Here MailOnline details some other celebrities who have been diagnosed with throat cancers.
Val Kilmer
‘Top Gun’ and ‘Batman Forever’ star Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015.
Kilmer, now 64, underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for his cancer as well as a tracheostomy a procedure to create an artificial hole in this neck to help him breathe.
The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequentially forever altered his speaking voice.
In the Amazon Prime documentary entitled Val, Kilmer spoke candidly about living with the consequences of throat cancer including having to use an electric device called a voice box on the artificial hole in his throat to talk.
‘I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. I can’t speak without plugging this hole [in his throat],’ he said.
Val Kilmer rose to fame for his starring role alongside Tom Cruise in Top Gun; seen in 1986
Kilmer, 61 — who is now cancer-free — gets candid about surviving throat cancer in his new Amazon Prime documentary. Val. Pictured here in 2019
A voice box device is most commonly a battery-operated machine that produces sound to create a voice, and is used to help those suffering with throat cancer communicate.
The actor, who also has to have meals through a feeding tube, explained some of the other challenges.
‘You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat. It’s an obstacle that is very present with whoever sees me,’ he said.
Kilmer has previously detailed how he was unaware he had throat cancer until one day he coughed up ‘coagulated blood’ and called for an ambulance before passing out.
He then woke up in a Santa Monica hospital after an emergency tracheotomy for throat cancer.
Martina Navratilova
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova last year emotionally declared she was ‘cancer free’ after overcoming throat and breast cancer.
In an emotional interview with Piers Morgan the now 67-year-old said she had feared she ‘wouldn’t see next Christmas’ and that beating the disease was the ‘hardest thing ever’.
Navratilova added her diagnosis had forced her to put on hold plans to adopt a child with her wife Julia Lemigova and even drew up a bucket list of things she wanted to do before she dies.
The tennis ace, who won 59 major titles in a career spanning four decades, announced she had been diagnosed with cancer at the start of 2023.
She had previously beaten breast cancer in 2010, but said she feared she might not see Christmas 2023 after it returned.
Martina Navratilova announced on Twitter she was clear of cancer after tests in New York last year
The now 67-year-old, is pictured here holding the Wimbledon trophy in 1990, received the double cancer diagnosis in December 2022
The Czech-born athlete confirmed she was diagnosed after doctors found an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA finals in Fort Worth in November the previous year, with tests later confirming she had both breast and throat cancer.
She recalled: ‘[I’m thinking] I will see this Christmas but maybe not the next one.’
‘Who has two cancers at the same time? I was never an underachiever, but this is getting ridiculous.’
However, displaying the spirit that guided her to success on the tennis court, Navratilova defiantly refused to give in: ‘Giving up, giving in, stopping – that’s just not an option for me. You get on with it.’
She added: ‘Quitting is just not in my DNA.’
The Golden Racket winner also detailed how she had to undergo a gruelling combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and proton therapy to become cancer free.
Announcing the result on social media at the time he thanked all those involved in her care, adding the words ”f*** cancer’.
Danny Baker
Popular radio broadcaster and writer Danny Baker has previously detailed how his diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer left him being unable to talk for eight months.
Baker revealed his diagnosed back in 2011 and was only declared cancer free in 2016.
Detailing his cancer journey he explained he had to undergo intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy to such an extent that he was left without saliva glands.
The treatment left the presenter barely able to eat or drink and with a tube attached to his stomach so he could feed himself.
He later detailed on the 2016 series of I’m A Celebrity how the cancer had and still impacted him.
‘I’ve got very few taste buds, very few saliva glands and my appetite is flat lined,’ he said.
Popular radio broadcaster and writer Danny Baker has previously detailed how his diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer left him being unable to talk for eight months. Pictured here in 2018
He then added in a shocking revelation to camp: ‘I didn’t talk for eight months.’
Baker, who is married to Wendy and has three children, came to prominence as a writer for the music magazine New Musical Express in the 1970s.
The broadcaster, who left school at 14, then secured a job at NME, where he interviewed Michael Jackson.
He then became a TV presenter and linked up with friend Chris Evans where he wrote the scripts for Evans’ show TFI Friday.
During the 1990s, Baker and Evans were regularly pictured out drinking with footballer Paul Gascoigne.
Baker and Evans were blamed by some for leading Gazza astray in the build up to the 1998 World Cup, which saw the star dropped from the England squad.
His friendship with Evans helped him cope with his illness, especially as his income dried up when he was unable to work.
He revealed in an interview how he went to Evans and asked to borrow £30,000, which he handed over instantly.
He has repaid the debt by re-mortgaging his house in Deptford, South-East London.
