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Only Fools and Horses star Patrick Murray announces he is ‘cured’ of lung cancer

The actor, who played hapless spiv Mickey Pearce, shared an update on Twitter.

Alex Green
Sunday 22 May 2022 15:01 BST
Patrick Murray stars as Mickey Pearce in Only Fools and Horses

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Only Fools and Horses star Patrick Murray has said his lung cancer is “cured” and that the tumour in his liver is shrinking.

Murray, 65, who played Mickey Pearce in the classic BBC sitcom, revealed in January that scans had caught a cancerous lung tumour in its early stages and that he had undergone an operation to have it removed, followed by chemotherapy.

Subsequent scans found another tumour in his liver that was unconnected to his lung cancer and also treatable.

He received transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (Tace), a minimally invasive procedure performed in interventional radiology to restrict a tumour’s blood supply.

Sharing a health update on Twitter, Murray said: “Thanks again for all your lovely messages. As you may know, I was diagnosed with lung cancer last July.

“After an op in Oct to remove the tumour I had chemo to help prevent the cancer returning. During this chemo, another tumour was discovered in my liver. Luckily for me this cancer was unconnected to the lung cancer and was also treatable. I had a procedure called Tace to deal with this.”

He continued: “Last Friday l saw my oncologist. She told me the lung cancer was cured and that the tumour in my liver was shrinking.

“It’s not over yet, but as you can imagine I am over the moon with this latest news.”

John Challis died of cancer in September 2021 (Ian West/PA)
John Challis died of cancer in September 2021 (Ian West/PA) (PA Archive)

Apparently referring to the annual Only Fools and Horses fan convention, he added: “Thanks to the brilliant doctors and nurses of our NHS, I will hopefully I be there, at next years convention.”

It comes after John Challis, who played unscrupulous second-hand car dealer Boycie in the beloved series, died from cancer aged 79 in September 2021.

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Murray played dim-witted wide boy Mickey alongside David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney Trotter on Only Fools and Horses from 1983 to 2003.

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