Only Fools And Horses actor Patrick Murray has revealed he had a cancerous lung tumour removed.
Murray, 65, who played Mickey Pearce in the classic BBC sitcom, is endorsing a government advert urging people to get unexplained discomfort checked out, after an ultrasound gave him a “fighting chance”.
The news comes four months after John Challis, who played unscrupulous second-hand car dealer Boycie in the beloved series, died from cancer aged 79.
The other day I saw a gov advert advising anyone who has been suffering from bloating , pain or discomfort in the abdominal region and constipation to ask their GPto refer them for an ultrasound exam .It's quick totally painless and it can save your life .
— Patrick Murray (@PatMurray000) January 21, 2022
On Twitter, Murray said: “Naturally I wanted to keep my own health problems private, but failing to fully endorse this ad would be selfish.
“Thanks to my ultrascan I have a fighting chance.
“It showed my organs needed further investigation and tumours were spotted. This led to a pet scan which covers a much larger area.
“To my wonderful surprise these lesions were not cancerous but the scan did find an EARLY stage cancerous tumour in my lung.
“This has since been removed and I am tweeting now, which would not be the case if I hadn’t had the ultrasound all those months ago.”
The actor has urged those who are suffering unexplained symptoms to not “ignore it if the problem persists”.
“The other day I saw a gov advert advising anyone who has been suffering from bloating, pain or discomfort in the abdominal region and constipation to ask their GP to refer them for an ultrasound exam.
“It’s quick totally painless and it can save your life, I now speak from my own experience.
“As for me and thanks to the NHS, I can now see the same beautiful horizon as you,” Murray said.
Murrray played dim-witted wide boy Mickey alongside David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney Trotter on Only Fools And Horses from 1983 to 2003.