James Whale says he ‘can’t go on much more’ as he issues sobering health update

Radio and TV presenter James Whale has offered a sobering update on his terminal cancer condition, stating: “I don’t feel I can go on much more.”

The talkRadio host, 74, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2000, and initially underwent successful treatment. In 2020, he revealed that the cancer had returned, and had spread to his spine, brain, and lungs. Last month, he told fans that he had weeks to live.

Reflecting on the toll his illness had taken on him, Whale said he is now struggling to breathe, speak and remember things.

“I don’t feel I can go on much more,” he said on the Tales of the Whales podcast last week. “The other thing is, my energy levels have gone completely. I’m sorry to be grumpy. I can’t breathe, I can’t think, I can’t talk.”

He added: “The most tiring thing I found… I still can’t hear very well, which is more frustrating than anything else. I’ve become very slow in my speech and then forgetful and everything else.”

Whale, who has enjoyed a career in TV and radio spanning five decades, thanked “everybody for getting in touch and wanting to meet up”. However, his wife Nadine said that visitors had now been restricted to “just very close friends and family”.

“I’m tootling along, which is all you can do really,” he said, as he went on to discuss his symptoms. “Trying to get my breathing sorted and the mark on my bum. People have to go through a lot worse, don’t they? Do they?”

Last month, he was asked by one viewer how he is spending the limited time he has left, to which Whale replied: “I spend a lot of time crying. And it really, it’s a bit embarrassing, Paula, to be quite honest with you.

“I’m heading into the sunset and I talk about it regularly on the show and you know it’s interesting because now everybody talks about it. Not me, not mine, but their own, you know, they don’t feel that they’re doing it quite right without having a cancer to talk about.”

The industry veteran was awarded an MBE for his services to broadcasting and charity in the 2024 New Year Honours List.

Whale was first diagnosed with cancer in 2000, and underwent surgery to remove one of his kidneys. In 2018, his first wife, Melinda Maxted, died after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He launched the James Whale Fund for Kidney Cancer in 2006, which later became Kidney Cancer UK.