Dame Joan Bakewell has revealed that she is receiving treatment for colon cancer.
The veteran broadcaster, 89, who hosts Sky Arts' Portrait Artist of the Year, had an operation on the cancer before Christmas and is now undergoing a course of chemotherapy.
"I've recovered from that [surgery]," she said. "I'm feeling fine, and the chemotherapy is a mopping-up operation to make sure it doesn't come back.
"I've always been optimistic because I caught this cancer early on, and within a week I was in hospital having an operation."
She continued: "I've been able to do everything I needed to do.
"I should be having chemotherapy once every two weeks, but I'll still be out, and was at the ballet the other night.
"I don't let it interfere, as much as possible, but, obviously, I do as I'm told. You just have to get on with life.
"And, of course, I've been in a position to learn treatments have improved so much and cancer is no longer a death sentence – that's why we need to catch it early and do all the tests that arise and go through it.
"In a sense, it's made me optimistic, which sounds odd."
Every year around 44,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with colon cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of over 58%.
Neil Wilkes
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