Nick Owen says he struggled to tell his children of his cancer diagnosis, but admits it was necessary for his immediate family to be ‘on the case’.
The former TV-am host, 76, confirmed he was battling ‘extensive’ and ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer in August, and has since been successfully treated.
And he admits his first decision was to tell his four adult children, two of them boys, so they could be aware of the potentially hereditary illness and its warning signs.
He told the Deadly Silent Podcast: ‘I’ve been through the middle of it. And I realised that the sooner you get seen the better.
‘We had an MRI, there was a hint there was something going on. Then I had a biopsy. And that would tell us that it was really nasty and aggressive. And we need to do something quickly.
Nick Owen says he struggled to tell his children of his cancer diagnosis, but admits it was necessary for his immediate family to be ‘on the case’
He admits his first decision was to tell his four adult children, two of them boys, so they could be aware of the potentially hereditary illness and its warning signs
‘Telling my children was difficult. I’ve got four children, three are our boys, two in their forties and one in their late thirties, and it was quite emotional.’
He added: ‘Also, as far as the boys [Andy, Tim and Chris] are concerned, it’s a warning because it can be a hereditary thing.
‘I’m very keen for my boys to be extremely on the case. I’ll work on them to go earlier than 50, to be honest, to have the PSA tests. And the message has to be if you have got any hint of a worry, get someone to look at it.’
Owen received his diagnosis just weeks after his former TV-am co-presenter Anne Diamond, 68, revealed she is battling breast cancer and has undergone a mastectomy.
Along with their stint on TV-am, the pair had their own current affairs morning programme on the BBC in the 1990s, Good Morning With Anne And Nick.
Speaking about the debilitating impact the condition has had on his life, he told BBC One’s Midlands Today: BBC One’s Midlands Today: ‘I went to a specialist, he wasn’t too worried because my figures weren’t that high.
‘But he decided I ought to have a scan, and then the scan said there’s something dodgy going on, and then he sent me for a biopsy, which he did.
‘And the results of that were the killer – on April the 13th, a date (which) will forever be imprinted on my mind.
Owen received his diagnosis just weeks after his former TV-am co-presenter Anne Diamond revealed she is battling breast cancer and has undergone a mastectomy
The former breakfast TV presenter with wife Vicki Beevers, who he married in July 2020
Along with their stint on TV-am, Owen and Diamond had their own current affairs morning programme on the BBC in the 1990s, Good Morning With Anne And Nick
‘He told us that it was extensive, really, and aggressive, and I had prostate cancer full-on, and something needed to be done pretty fast.
‘And that was probably the worst day of my life, or certainly one of them.’
He added: ‘It was a very grim moment… driving home after that sort of news and ringing people, texting people, my phone went crazy for hours on end.
‘And it was a very, very difficult time for me, and indeed for my wife Vicki, who was by my side all the time through this, you know.’
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. One in eight men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives and more than 52,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Nick has been one of the faces of Midlands Today for more than 25 years. Our viewers and his colleagues have missed him dearly in recent weeks.
Owen married Vicki Beevers in July 2020, having previously been married to Jill Lavery, with whom he has four children.
Nick Owen is working with GenesisCare to launch the brand new Deadly Silent Podcast. For more information on prostate cancer symptoms and treatment options visit www.genesiscare.com/uk.