Broadcaster John Blackman urges skin cancer checks, after surgery may see him lose his voice

SHOCKED Hey Hey It’s Saturday cast members have issued powerful messages of support to John Blackman - the voice of the TV hit that ran for almost three decades - as he recovers from major cancer surgery.

Hey Hey stars with John Blackman (centre). Hey Hey ran for 27 years.

THE Hey Hey It’s Saturday cast has rallied around John Blackman as he recovers from major cancer surgery.

The 10-hour operation involved Blackman having his jaw removed and replaced with bone taken from his leg.

The operation at Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital was deemed a success but the comedian, best known for his Dickie Knee character, faces months of recovery and therapy.

John Blackman. Picture: Nicole Garmston

He is currently breathing through a ventilator.

“The choice was between brain cancer and the operation – so there was no choice,” Blackman’s wife, Cecile, said.

“It was such a rampant cancer. The surgery is a huge price to pay but we don’t regret it. He has got so many wounds.”

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Shocked members of the Hey Hey team, including host Daryl Somers and musician Wilbur Wilde, met with Blackman in the lead-up to the surgery.

“John and I have a special bond after 30 years of Hey Hey and I wish there was something tangible one could do to make this all go away,” Somers said.

“I spent time with him the day before his operation and he was accepting of the enormous challenge that lies ahead and resigned to the fact that it could end his career.”

Wilde described the get-together as “a couple of hours of coffee, sandwiches and laughs”.

“Blackers, despite the enormity he faced was in great spirits – not cavalier but stoic and brave,” Wilde said.

The Hey Hey crew.

Molly Meldrum was another to pay tribute to Blackman, saying: “It’s awful news. John is one of my dearest friends.”

Livinia Nixon added: “Oh Blackers – we’re all thinking about you as together you, Cecile and (daughter) Tiffany fight your toughest battle.”

Hey Hey producer Pam Barnes said that hearing the news about Blackman was “absolutely devastating”.

“I hope that he has a really good recovery and the John we all know and love will still be there,” Barnes said.

“Laughing and making other people laugh is his life.”

Mrs Blackman said doctors believe her husband is “99 per cent clear” of cancer but knows that the road to complete recovery will be challenging.

“The loss of speech for him will be extremely difficult but speech therapy could probably help. The nurses have said to me ‘we (medical staff) are stage one and stage two will be yours’ with everything we’ve got to face over the next few months.

“He is going to be faced with it (impact of surgery) every time he looks in the mirror. That is going to be very confronting for him.”

Blackman received the grim cancer diagnosis a month ago.

He had noticed a pimple on his chin two years ago and it grew into basal-cell carcinoma. When he cut himself shaving and it didn’t heal a biopsy was ordered.

“John was really thinking of how he could push the message to others to check for skin lesions regularly to avoid anything like he is going through at the moment,” Somers said.

“I know he will fight this with all his might. He and Cecile are in my thoughts constantly and I pray for him to come through this ordeal so we may share more fun together.”

Blackman, 71, recorded an interview with A Current Affair before his surgery at The Alfred last Friday.

Broadcaster John Blackman with Dickie Knee. Picture: Nicole Garmston

He said the surgery could leave him unable to speak again.

He told the show he would likely never regain the muscle strength in his jaw which would make it difficult for him to keep performing.

“(My surgeon) said, ‘well, just get prepared to not be able to do all the things you’ve been able to do for the past 50 years’, which is a bit of a kick in the guts,” he told A Current Affair.

“To perform you have to look good, you have to sound good, you have to sound confident and be confident. I just won’t be able to do that anymore.

“Life without doing that is just so alien to me … I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Mrs Blackman said her husband was recovering in the hospital’s ICU ward, but was unable to communicate.

“No one can tell us how long it will take before he can actually speak. Because of the trauma he’s breathing through a ventilator,” she told 3AW.

“We’re communicating with opening his eyes. I can’t believe how much I miss not being able to talk to him. Our relationship was so based on communication and sharing things.”

Mrs Blackman said learning of the diagnosis was “like hitting a wall”.

“We went through a period a few months before that when he had a rash on his chin,” she said.

“(The) dermatologist gave us creams and the doctor thought it was a virus.

“One day he cut himself shaving and it didn’t heal. So that was the clue. There was no blood flow in the area.

“Then we had a biopsy and it was pretty grim.

“The doctors didn’t sugar coat anything. They just spelt it out.”

Blackman said he hoped his case would prompt others to get a skin check up.

“For God’s sake, go and see your dermatologist frequently, (even) if it’s even four times a year.”

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