BBC’s Nick Owen announces heart-wrenching cancer battle and recounts ‘grim’ diagnosis on ‘worst day of his life’
BBC’s Nick Owen has announced the heart-wrenching news of his secret battle with prostate cancer.
The former TV-AM presenter recounted the ‘grim’ diagnosis’ that he received, for which he called the ‘worst day of his life’.
Nick, 75, first rose to fame in the eighties when he became a sports reporter on the UK’s first commercial breakfast show on ITV.
He was promoted officially to head anchor of TV-AM’s Good Morning Britain in 1983 after the departure of Angela Rippon and Anna Ford.
The television personality presented the show until 1966 when he departed the station to become a regular presenter for ITV Sport.
Later in his career he was one of the main faces of the local BBC News programme Midlands Today where he has been a mainstay for more than 25 years.
It is on this programme where the TV presenter chose to reveal the devastating diagnosis.
“I went to a specialist, he wasn’t too worried because my figures weren’t that high,” he explained.
“But he decided I ought to have a scan and then the scan said there was something dodgy going on, and then he sent me for a biopsy which he did.”
Nick revealed how the news of the illness has impacted him personally as he revealed: “And the results of that were the killer, on April the 13th, a date which will forever be imprinted on my mind.
“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.”
However, the TV personality did admit that his friends and family have been amazing as people around him reached out.
He also paid particular tribute to his wife, reflexologist Vicki Beevers whom he married in July 2020 in a ceremony in Staffordshire.
“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. It was grim.”
A BBC spokesperson 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.
“We can’t wait to welcome him back to the studio as soon as he’s ready. We all wish him a speedy recovery.”
This comes just months after his friend and former co-star Anne Diamond spoke of the moment she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The former Loose Women star, 68, had been battling the illness for nearly six months before she revealed her news in June and had a double mastectomy.
Speaking about her diagnosis for the first time on one of the UK News channels, Anne told how she was diagnosed on the day she found out she was going to be made an OBE.