TV and radio funnyman Jono Coleman reveals his secret year-long cancer battle
STUDIO 10 funnyman Jono Coleman has revealed he has secretly been battling advanced prostate cancer for a year. Coleman, who is known for his larrikin sense of humour, has opened up about is heartbreaking secret.
Confidential
Don't miss out on the headlines from Confidential. Followed categories will be added to My News.
STUDIO 10 funnyman Jono Coleman has revealed he has secretly been battling advanced prostate cancer for a year.
Coleman, who is known for his larrikin sense of humour, opened up to Studio 10 and The Australian Women’s Weekly about his diagnosis which he has kept secret since he found out in June last year.
He told Studio 10’s Sarah Harris everything changed one afternoon when he skipped work drinks to attend a doctor’s appointment.
MORE: AUSSIE SCIENTISTS CANCER BREAKTHROUGH
MORE: CANCER CASES LINKED TO BREAST IMPLANTS
“It’s Friday afternoon, you guys are all at the pub having drinks and I’ve got a man with his finger up my bottom,” he said with his trademark humour. “Within five minutes he said ‘yes well I can tell you your prostate is enlarged and there’s a hard lump so I’d say you’ve got cancer.
“People say your life starts flashing before you, there was a touch of that, we were like ‘okay, what are we going to do, we’ve got the kids, we’ve got Oscar and Emily.”
The 62-year-old has undergone six months of chemo and radiotherapy at the Kinghorn Centre and the Genesis Centre as part of his St Vincent’s Hospital treatment.
He has just completed 18 weeks of chemotherapy, followed by seven weeks
of radiotherapy.
In an emotional segment on the morning show, fellow host Angela Bishop, who lost her husband Peter Baikie to cancer in November last year, revealed that Coleman, Baikie and fellow Ten presenter Barry Du Bois (whose plasmacytoma myeloma returned in October of last year) all received treatment together.
“Pete and Jono would find themselves at the King Horn together and sometimes with Baz,” she said, “it was a bit of a Channel 10 club up there, but you were all such a tremendous support for each other.
Coleman, who is on the mend, also released this statement to The Daily Telegraph.
“In June 2017, I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. Under the watchful eye of Prof Philip Stricker at St Vincent’s Hospital and all the staff at Kinghorn Centre and Genesis Centre, I started treatment that included chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I’m still receiving ongoing hormone injections and despite being totally in the clear, will continue treatment for the foreseeable months. I am committed to keeping up my treatment, medication and maintaining a lifestyle that is conducive to my recovery.
MORE: DRUG SUBSIDIES FOR PATIENTS BATTLING RARE CANCERS
Coleman says since announcing my diagnosis to executives and close colleagues at TEN in June last year, he has been overwhelmed with support.
“I’ve continued to work hard on Studio 10 and until recently on my nightly radio show, Talking Lifestyle at Macquarie Media. In true ‘Jono Coleman’ form, I’ve been making jokes and sending myself up throughout my treatment. I’m incredibly blessed and so lucky to have the support of my wife and children, friends, workmates, and a top notch medical team all in my corner. As I say, onward and upwards, with a smile on my dial!”