BBC Radio 2 presenter Mark Radcliffe discovered he had cancer when he shaved his beard.
Mark Radcliffe
The 60-year-old broadcaster found a lump on his neck after deciding to lose his facial hair because he didn't want to look "too hipster" which led to him noticing an unusual lump on his neck.
Opening up to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: "I'd had a beard for a while and thought, 'Oh it's too hipster, everyone has a beard now. I'll go clean shaven' and as I took it off I noticed something on my neck. I thought it was probably a swollen lymph gland but when we got home I went to my GP, who sent me for an ultrasound.
"One thing led to another and I found myself seeing a specialist for a biopsy and being told I had a cancerous growth in my neck."
The host was stunned when doctors discovered a "large tumour" hidden at the back of his tongue as he had never felt any discomfort in his throat when working on-air.
He said: "He (the doctor) said the cancer would have killed me in months, not years. I was doing a three-hour radio show every day but hadn't had any discomfort despite having such a large tumour hidden at the back of my tongue.
"The cancer grows gradually so everything bends and shapes around it. I'd been clearing my throat a bit more but felt fine."
Doctors removed a "walnut-sized thing" from the back of his tongue then another lump "the size of an apple" from his neck.
Mark - who is now in remission - recalls how "quickly" his life changed when he found out he had cancer recalled how he was overjoyed to learn that the disease hadn't spread to the rest of his body.
He said: "It's funny how quickly life changes. When they confirmed that it hadn't gone elsewhere in my body we were sort of punching the air thinking, 'Great, I've only got cancer in my neck, this is marvellous.' "