{"id":339721,"date":"2025-12-28T19:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339721\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T19:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T19:05:12","slug":"ground-force-stars-heartbreaking-health-battles-after-double-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/339721\/","title":{"rendered":"Ground Force star’s heartbreaking health battles after double cancer diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ground Force presenter Tommy Walsh has faced throat and lung cancer diagnoses, with his latest tumour now shrinking after successful treatmentAbbie Bray<\/a> Deputy editor for Screen Time and Jennie Buzaglo<\/p>\n

14:57, 28 Dec 2025<\/p>\n

\"CharlieCharlie Dimmock with her Ground Force co-stars(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Tommy Walsh has been a recognisable presence on British television for decades, with his career taking off through his starring role on Ground Force.<\/p>\n

The 68-year-old presenter appeared on the BBC<\/a> programme alongside Alan Titchmarsh<\/a> and Charlie Dimmock before transitioning to other home improvement shows, including Homes Under the Hammer<\/a> and Flip That House with Tommy Walsh.<\/p>\n

What many viewers may not realise is that behind the scenes, Tommy has faced three encounters with cancer<\/a>. His initial health<\/a> scare happened in 2002, when the television personality discovered two lumps on his chest.<\/p>\n

Given his family’s history with breast cancer, having witnessed both his sister and aunt fight the illness, Tommy immediately consulted his doctor, reports the Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy Walsh(Image: BBC)READ MORE: BBC Death in Paradise Christmas special guest cast line-up and plot<\/a>READ MORE: Strictly stars ‘excited’ as they reunite for new project away from BBC show<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’ve been in pretty good health all my life, but after my sister’s and aunt’s problems, I thought I would mention it in a visit to my GP,” he revealed to The Express at the time.<\/p>\n

“I remember taking a while to get an appointment, and when I did go, it was more of an afterthought that I’d mention it.”<\/p>\n

Tommy continued: “However, given the history of breast cancer in my family, I was sent to the same consultant my sister had gone to.”<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the lumps proved to be non-cancerous and were successfully removed. In 2022, Tommy discovered his own cancer diagnosis whilst participating in a cancer awareness campaign.<\/p>\n

Following a consultation with his GP, a malignant growth was found in his throat and was later surgically removed. He revealed at the time: “I went to my GP about an unrelated issue, and while I was there, he discovered this lump in my throat that he was a bit concerned about. He said it may be nothing, but that he would rather I went and got it checked, and, unfortunately, it turned out to be cancerous.<\/p>\n

“I had to go in straight away and have surgery to remove it. I am now fully recovered and even back playing football!”<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy Walsh had cancer three times(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n

Despite his recovery, Tommy disclosed he was facing lung cancer in late 2023. He broke the news to attendees at a charity event in November, revealing that medics had found a “three-centimetre tumour in the lung” and that he had an urgent appointment for a CT scan the next day.<\/p>\n

The well-known builder informed the audience: “I have an emergency appointment at 9am tomorrow morning back in London. I had a chest infection, had to go to the doctor, and they sent me up to the hospital for a CT scan, and they think there’s a three-centimetre tumour in the lung.<\/p>\n

“I’ve tried to keep cheerful, and you’ve cheered me up today, and thank you for letting me reminisce and talk. I was weighing up whether or not to tell you about this, but I felt it would be unfair if I were to leave this and I didn’t tell you.”<\/p>\n

Tommy continued: “That’s why I’m going to have to leave after this talk, and I won’t be able to join you for a few beers tonight.”<\/p>\n

By June 2024, Tommy announced the tumour was “shrinking” following new treatment. “I had to have this new treatment called SABR, and what it is is radiotherapy, which targets it to an exact spot without damaging the organs around it. So they used that, and it shrank,” he shared with the Mirror.<\/p>\n

“It is now not anywhere else. It is going away. Because it is shrinking, it will shrink down to nothing and disappear. I will then just have to have annual checks. It has worked for me really well.”<\/p>\n

He further expressed his relief that the tumour was discovered just outside his lung, stating: “They thought it was in the lung, and then I would have been in trouble.<\/p>\n

“Surgery would have been serious where they cut you open and take a big lump of bone out of the rib, and then they would have to put a piece of metal mesh in to stop the lung from falling out of the hole.<\/p>\n

“So I did not want that, but we had that as a backup. The SABR treatment has worked, and I am healthy, so I have not been in any pain.”<\/p>\n

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip<\/a>** website**<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ground Force presenter Tommy Walsh has faced throat and lung cancer diagnoses, with his latest tumour now shrinking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[243,6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-339721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}