Janey Godley has revealed it was Jimmy Carr who convinced her to go on her Not Dead Yet tour after finding out her cancer had come back. The Scots comedian was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer in November 2021.
She went to her doctors after reading a tweet from presenter Julia Bradbury regarding symptoms that could be cancer, before receiving the heartbreaking news. After months of gruelling chemotherapy and undergoing a full hysterectomy to treat it in early 2022, the 62-year-old comic received the devastating news her cancer had returned later that year.
Despite being tempted to cancel her comeback tour, after some persuasion from her good pal Jimmy she decided to go on the road and perform. Speaking to The Independent, Janey admitted touring whilst undergoing cancer treatment isn't easy and has had some side affects as a result.
“I didn’t sleep well last night because it’s the first night of chemo,” she told the publication. “One of the side effects is my nose hairs come out, so my nose was running constantly on stage.”
Janey announced she was cancer-free last summer, before taking to social media to share the news the disease had returned. The Glasgow-born comedian told the publication she instructed her agent to cancel her tour, which she is currently embarking on, after receiving the bad news.
However, despite her initial reaction it was the 8 Out Of 10 Cats star who convinced her to go on the road. She told the publication: “I was telling him, ‘I need to cancel the tour’ and he’s like, ‘Why?’”
“He went, ‘Let’s be honest, you being weak on stage is usually quite a little funnier than most people who are alright… Is your mouth still working?’ I went, ‘Yeah.’ He went, ‘Get on tour.’ And I thought, OK," she said.
Janey shared the good news that her cancer levels have dropped right down now, but speaking of her health added: “But you know, we might beat it this time, but it’ll come back again. And I’ll have to just keep fighting – well, fighting’s the wrong word – I’ll have to keep throwing chemotherapy at it.”
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