IN MY MIND I'VE ALREADY BEATEN IT

He battled testicular cancer at 18, now it’s in his lung – and radio host Mark Pilgrim is more determined than ever to fight

- LESEGO SEOKWANG

THIRTY- THREE years in remission – that was the story radio presenter Mark Pilgrim planned to tell the world this year.

He’d just marked World Cancer Day on 4 February by posting a photo with the number 33 written on his palm. But the ink had barely dried when he received the gutwrenching news: he has stage 4 lung cancer and the disease has spread to his lymph nodes and pelvic bone.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” Mark tells YOU when we meet him at the Hot 102.7 studios where he hosts a mid-morning show.

“Little did I know it was laughing at me because I obviously already had it. It’s been there for a while. I don’t know how long exactly but a good couple of months.”

Mark’s first brush with the disease came when he was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer at 18. Now he’s gearing up to fight again at 52.

“This time around I know the journey. It doesn’t make it less scary but I’m not as nave,” he says. “I’m strong and I’m scared. The two run side by side. I acknowledge both emotions and that makes me stronger. You have the will to fight even harder when you’re scared.”

For nearly 30 years he’s encouraged people living with cancer not to give up, Mark says – now it’s time for him to live by his words. “I will have bad days but I’m going to fight.”

HE HAD a persistent cough for a few months after contracting severe Covid in June last year, so the coughing wasn’t a red flag at first. But around the end of November, it started getting worse.