As one of the best-loved of the Goggleboxers, Tim Lai is used to hearing from those who watch him on screen. But he wasn’t expecting the outpouring of help and advice that came after he and Leanne recently announced he was going through treatment for cancer.
“So just to give you a bit of context, I actually was originally diagnosed with a benign brain tumour and it was later discovered that I also had a malignant tumour in my adrenal gland and that’s what I’m fighting at the moment,” Tim, 47, tells TV WEEK.
“I discussed with Leanne whether we should go public with this or should I just keep it under the proverbial hat and we decided that it was probably best to share some of my experience so that others who are going through a similar process or about to go through chemo or immunotherapy or radiation therapy wouldn’t feel so alone.
“I thought I could share what works for me because short of them having gone through the treatment themselves it can be very lonely.”
Even the medical experts Tim was being cared by don’t really understand what it is like to be the one at the centre of it all he said.
“When you’re speaking to a nurse or your oncologist or a medical professional it’s so clinical and even though they work in this field every day they haven’t personally gone through it themselves so we decided that we were going to share some of the pain points and what works for me to overcome side effects etc.
“We kind of felt that it’s an opportunity for us to use whatever little platform we have to maybe spread a little bit of light” Tim says.
And almost instantly, the support poured in.
“It’s been a real two-way street!” Tim says, “a lot of people who have either gone through or are in the process of going through a treatment plan like I am have reached out to me and given me advice!
“For example, at the moment my hands I just cannot stop them cracking and bleeding and I’ve literally received pages of advice on how to overcome this.
“And at the very start of my second cycle of chemo my throat and my mouth had these incredibly painful ulcers and I struggled to drink water and the number of DMs people sent giving tips and advice on products to help overcome it has just been incredible. They help me as much as I hope I’ve helped someone else.”
That positivity, along with support from his husband Mark, Leeanne and her partner Brody and a close circle of family and friends has become a key tool as Tim continues his treatment… that and his determination that he will be healthy enough to head off overseas as soon as possible.
“I’m a project manager by trade so I plan everything out and I’ve planned by holidays for the next five years already,” Tim laughs.
“So I use that as a hook to get me through some of the darker times that I’m going through at the moment. Having this look into the short and midterm future actually gives me hope because I want to achieve all the things that I’ve got down on my plan and I want to visit all these amazing places around the world and I have to be healthy to do that.
“I’ve already told my doctor in November or late October when we finish the next series of Gogglebox I need to be healthy enough to get on a plane to go to Finland and they said: ‘We’ll get you there!'”
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