Meet Cancer Survivor Micheal Aspel: The Man Who Fought His Illness Conquering Untimely Death

When people find out about cancer in their system, they become depressed and tend to lose all hope to see tomorrow. Even if the cancer is caught at the early stage, some worry about their life whereas some stay pleasant and don't let the disease get them best of them.

The same was with Michael Aspel when he was diagnosed with cancer. He remained pleasant and didn't worry or fuss about his condition. While the people around him were making a huge fuss about his cancer, he was unbothered. 

Michael Aspel's Battle Against Cancer:

Caption: Michael Aspel at the 70th anniversary of the first wartime evacuations in 2009

Source: bt.com

English televisions presenter Michael Aspel has been secretly fighting cancer over a year after coming out about his condition in 2004. After he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in autumn of 2002, he only told close friends and family about his condition. After finding out about having cancer in their system, most people just lose it.

They are overcome by the fear of never seeing tomorrow. Most people just fight to see tomorrow. But that wasn't the case with Antiques Roadshow presenter Michael Aspel. He didn't falter when he found out about his condition. Now that's what I call a high-spirited man. He was pleasant, and so were the people around him.

Even though they were a little worried about Aspel and cancer, they were bound to keep a pleasant face to keep Aspel from faltering. 

In an interview with Evening Standard, he said he had undergone three months of chemotherapy and says that he is 'fit as a fiddle.' The father of seven stated,

"I was having a routine check-up when the doctors noticed there was something there, a slight swelling around the kidney area. It's probably something a lot of people have, and they just don't even realise, because I had no symptoms. They decided to take a look, and it was then I was told I had this form of cancer but that it was low grade. I was shocked at first, but I wasn't worried or frightened because everyone was just so calm about it. It's not life threatening. We have to keep an eye on it with regular check-ups, but I'm fine, I'm perfectly well. It hasn't gone, but it hasn't developed."

But the thing about cancer is, no matter how high-spirited you are, chemotherapy and drugs assigned by the doctors can suck the pleasantness right out of you. Aspel said the three-month course with chemotherapy drugs was 'more unpleasant than the condition itself.' He also added, "My hair didn't fall out. There was nothing like that, just a slightly unpleasant taste in the mouth. The cancer is dormant now. It's not doing anything, and there's no reason why it should. If it starts to progress again, then I will have another course of the drugs."

After 15 years of presenting This is Your Life in BBC1, Michael quit the show in September. After ending his presenter career, people started to speculate it was due to his illness, but Aspel cleared out saying, "It had nothing to do with my condition. It was coincidental. I just thought 15 years was a nice round sum and simply wanted to stop. I'm still presenting the Antiques Roadshow and am as fit as a fiddle."

Tragedies in the life of Michael Aspel:

Michael Aspel has suffered a great deal of tragedies in his life. He lost one of his brother Alan in a motorcycle accident at the age of 43. One of his sons Greg lost his long battle with cancer and caused his untimely death at the age of 29 in 1989. Another one of his sons James died at three days old.

As if these weren't enough, another one of sons Patrick was born with cerebral palsy. The pain of losing a family member wasn't enough, Aspel himself has suffered from various diseases.

In 1985 he underwent surgery to remove a tumor in his bladder, which turned out to be harmless. That wasn't all he again underwent surgery to remove stones in his kidney in 1991. And this wasn't just once; it was more than once.

He joked about his kidney saying, "I have wonky kidneys, and it's fair to say my family could have made a necklace out of all the bits of rockery that have come out of my body."

Michael Aspel's Personal Life (Short Bio):

Michael Terence Aspel was born on 12th January 1933. He is an English television presenter for programmes such as This is Your Life, Crackerjack, Strange but true? And Antiques Roadshow. He was born in Battersea in London during the Second World War.

Not only his health has been rocky, but his love life has gone through some rough patches too. He has been married three times and is a father of seven. He married Dian Sessions in 1957, and they had two children. The couple divorced in 1961.

After his divorce with Dian, he quickly married Anne Reed in 1962. The couple had twin children and divorced in 1967. And at last he married East Enders Actress Elizabeth Power but left her for a production assistant Irene Clarke on This is Your Life.