Celebrity Big Brother contestant and radio personality James Whale revealed he’s been “batting off the Grim Reaper” over Christmas.
He and his wife Nadine shared a short audio recording from Barts Hospital.
The broadcasting veteran – who took part in CBB in 2016 – is currently fighting stage four kidney cancer. He was first diagnosed back in 2000 and consequently had to have one of his kidneys removed. In 2020, James explained that the cancer had returned in his spine, kidney, brain and lungs.
Earlier this year he expressed his concern that he might not make it to 2025. After collecting his MBE in April, he said: “I’ve been terminally ill now for nearly four years.
“So I might make the end of this year, I might not – I might be around next year. I think you’ve got to be positive. I know it’s getting a bit worse than it was. You just have to go with the flow really. You have to do that to get through it.”
James Whale admitted to intensive care for hospital treatment
Speaking earlier today (December 30), James revealed he’d been hospitalised.
He said on Friday evening (December 27), he came home from work early. He then recorded his podcast on Saturday as normal.
However, by Saturday evening, he was feeling – in his wife Nadine’s words – “very poorly”. They went into hospital on Sunday morning, where doctors confirmed he was suffering from Influenza A.
Nadine said this type of flu is “kind of serious”, and that it became clear that James required intensive care “for a few days”.
She added that he was unable to breathe unassisted, but that he is now out of intensive care and in a ward at Barts Hospital.
However, Nadine – who also had the illness – added that it’s a “horrible virus” and James spent a short while “batting off the Grim Reaper again”. “You sent him packing,” said Nadine. “Well I didn’t know it was that bad,” James then responded.
James praises hospital staff but says he misses home
For his part, James said of his health that he’s “struggling on”.
“I’ve got underlying conditions,” he explained. “I’ve got things stuck in me nose,” he said.
James got a stage four kidney cancer diagnosis four years ago.
“It’s not my favourite place to be,” James said of the ward. “The staff are great, everybody’s great. You just want your own comforts of home, don’t you. It’s difficult to talk at the moment.”
But he’s “trying to be uplifting” and his fans appreciated the update.
“Great to hear the podcast,” one fan wrote on X.
“Another hiccup kicked into touch,” wrote another. “Well fought, James.”
“So pleased to hear that you are out of ICU, James,” another. “We are all thinking of you.”
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