{"id":845722,"date":"2026-08-06T15:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845722\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T15:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T15:08:12","slug":"the-block-2026-exclusive-rick-shares-details-of-double-cancer-diagnosis-im-alive-talking-to-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845722\/","title":{"rendered":"The Block 2026 Exclusive: Rick shares details of double cancer diagnosis: \u2018I\u2019m alive, talking to you\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Joining The Block<\/a> was a six-year dream for new contestant<\/a> Rick<\/a> who, when we met on the series, revealed two devastating cancer diagnoses. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one of the lucky ones,\u201d the 63-year-old dad told nine.com.au, who broke down in tears when he first shared the news in episode two<\/a> of the series. He is joined by daughter Tayla<\/a>, 32. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rick revealed he has had his prostate and kidney removed. \u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first diagnosis was about six and a half years ago, probably going on seven years ago now,\u201d revealed the Victorian builder as he opened up about his cancer journey. <\/p>\n

\u201cI [was] diagnosed with kidney cancer. It was low-grade but aggressive, so I got the right kidney removed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Then, two and a half years ago, Rick was told news he\u2019d never believe he\u2019d hear again. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Fortunately, this too was removed. <\/p>\n

\u201cAgain it was low-grade and aggressive, so I had the prostate removed and here I am talking to you.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed to be honest,\u201d Rick admitted. \u201cThe two places where \u2013 if you ever had the nasty disease \u2013 is where you would want to get it, the prostate and kidney. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m alive talking to you, it\u2019s the best thing ever,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

Rick, who\u2019s already off to a busy start with daughter Tayla on the series, said he feels \u201cso fortunate and blessed\u201d to even have the opportunity to compete on The Block this year. <\/p>\n

It was Rick\u2019s dream to be a contestant on the series six years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty cocky thinking I\u2019d get on [the show] straight away,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI didn\u2019t. But here we are six years later and the show officially launched this week.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still pinching myself,\u201d he beamed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rick and Tayla said they\u2019re a \u201cclose-knit family\u201d. \u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Daughter Tayla couldn\u2019t be more proud of her dad and teammate. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just proved it again and again that he\u2019s a strong man,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd he proves it even more on the show.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so blessed to have him as my father and to do three months of work with him [on The Block]. It\u2019s very nice.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Joining The Block was a six-year dream for new contestant Rick who, when we met on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-845722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}