Steve Rider to have surgery for prostate cancer, as he urges men to 'recognise your vulnerability'
11 October 2023, 14:29 | Updated: 11 October 2023, 14:37
TV presenter Steve Rider will undergo surgery after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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Rider, 73, best known for presenting Grandstand and Sports Night, urged other men to recognise their "vulnerability" and get themselves checked.
He is set to have an urgent operation this weekend.
Rider, who worked at LBC early in his career, said he had been spurred into having a check-up by a friend who had unexpectedly had a prostate cancer diagnosis.
"He had a scan which showed some alarming things going on with the prostate and within a month he had the full operation and that woke everybody up because he had no symptoms and very fit guy, and roughly our age," he said.
He revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer last month, the day after playing in a charity football match organised by fellow presenter Jeff Stelling in honour of former colleague and Classic FM presenter Bill Turnbull - who himself died of prostate cancer last year aged 66.
Discussing his decision to get tested, he said: "I thought the worst that can happen is that I'm going to be monitored for the next six months or so and we got the results of the biopsy the next day and they said 'No, you come in as soon as you can, we're going to operate'."
He said he had had frank conversations with his wife and friends, who had encouraged him to get tested.
"We do tend to treat these things a little bit like getting your eyes tested or ears done, you can put it off and maybe think 'Well, I'll wait till the symptoms come'.
"Symptoms don't come and when they do is it is probably too late."
He added: "The message is to recognise your vulnerability, especially with age and family history and so on. And if you do feel that you fall into those categories, then get yourself checked."
Rider praised Turnbull, a former colleague, for raising awareness of the condition.
Turnbull revealed his diagnosis in March 2018 and detailed his treatment in a Channel 4 documentary called Staying Alive.
Read more: Classic FM presenter Bill Turnbull dies aged 66
Rider said: "The great thing about Bill was that he wanted to turn his misfortune into an information campaign which would save hundreds of others and I'm sure that probably hundreds and thousands of men have stepped back from a really serious cancer because of the attention that Bill Turnbull brought to early diagnosis and testing.
"And apart from that, he was a lovely, lovely guy."
He also commended Stelling for carrying on Turnbull's legacy with the charity walks and said it was a "privilege to be able to join them".
