Monarch to Share First-Hand Address on His Health Battle in Nationwide Address
The Monarch has taped a personal message concerning his battle with cancer, which will be broadcast as part of this year's fundraising initiative, organised by medical research organisations and a television broadcaster.
The royal household confirmed the King would reflect on his "healing process" as a individual battling cancer, in a recorded address on Friday at the evening slot.
The message, taped inside Clarence House a fortnight ago, will highlight the vital significance of preventative health checks to help guarantee more people catch the disease at an initial point.
This constitutes a rare update on the health of the King, who has been undergoing regular treatment since revealing his diagnosis in early last year. But it is thought unlikely the King will identify his particular diagnosis.
The Campaign's Central Purpose
The awareness event each year raises funds for scientific studies and therapies and urges people to get screenings to boost the probability of an timely detection.
The King's relative openness about his condition, and his experience as a patient, has been aimed to raise awareness and to get more people to get tested - and this will be advanced with this unique personal contribution.
Up until now the King's key philosophy to his cancer has been to keep working, preserving a hectic timetable alongside his frequent sessions of care, and he is understood not to have desired to be overshadowed by his diagnosis.
The past twelve months has seen the King, 77, embarking on several international tours, notably to Italy and Canada, and receiving the biggest number of foreign dignitaries to the UK for a generation, featuring the German president last week.
Charity Special Show
The upcoming charity programme on television, featuring well-known figures such as Davina McCall, Adam Hills and Clare Balding, will urge people not to be frightened of getting preventative tests.
The hosts have been personally touched by cancer - one host said recently she had had an operation for breast cancer, while another presenter was diagnosed with a thyroid condition more than 15 years ago. Presenter Hills has previously mentioned his parent, who had a diagnosis and then later blood cancer.
The programme will reach out to the approximate nine million people in the UK who health organisations state are not compliant with NHS screening schemes, with an website to let people check if they are eligible for examinations for several common cancers.
In an attempt to explain health tests and show the benefit of early diagnosis there will be a real-time transmission from hospital departments at two Cambridge hospitals in Cambridge.
"I want to remove the anxiety from cancer screening and show all people that they are not isolated in this," said one of the hosts.
Available Health Checks
Right now in the UK, there are three national health screening services - for specific cancers - available to eligible individuals.
A new lung cancer screening programme is also being gradually implemented for individuals at high risk of developing the illness, focusing on people of a certain age, who are smokers or have smoked in the past.
Individuals may discuss prostate cancer checks, but there is lacking a standardised service operational.
Funding Research
The charity campaign, which has collected £113m since 2012, is funding dozens of research studies encompassing thousands of patients.
His Majesty, in a address for guests at a gathering for cancer charities in April, had referred to acknowledging the "overwhelming and at times alarming situation" for cancer sufferers and their loved ones.
But he noted his experience of coping with cancer had shown him that "periods of great challenge of illness can be brightened by the greatest compassion," as he thanked those who supported cancer patients.
The Palace has not made public the nature of cancer the King has, or the medical care he has been given. The King's cancer was identified after he had had a prostate procedure.
