Broadcaster Kaye Adams has shared that she recently had surgery to remove a portion of her thyroid after discovering a lump and fearing it could be cancer. The revelation came on Wednesday's episode of "How To Be 60," a podcast she co-hosts with Karen MacKenzie.
Adams, 63, explained that she felt something on her neck about 18 months ago. After a friend, who is a nurse, advised her to get it checked, she consulted her GP. This led to hospital visits, including scans and a biopsy. During this period, she experienced significant anxiety, especially as her co-host MacKenzie was also battling breast cancer. "I was thinking, f***ing hell, the two of us are going to be diagnosed with cancer. I just thought it was written in the horrible stars," Adams recalled.
The initial biopsy results were indeterminate, meaning it was unclear if the growth was malignant or benign. Adams stated she initially wanted to leave it, but was persuaded by MacKenzie to proceed. The medical team decided the safest course of action was to remove the affected part of her thyroid. The surgery carried a risk to her voicebox, and she faced a anxious wait for the results, which would take three weeks.
Adams recounted that when the hospital called with the results, she delayed answering the phone, anticipating bad news. After the call rang for a third time several days later, she finally answered to learn the growth was benign. "I was jumping up and down like a kid at Christmas who’d just got given six ponies and a bike. What a relief," she said. She described reaching a point where she feared all phone calls would bring bad news following a difficult year.
This health scare followed a period of personal difficulty for Adams, including being axed from her BBC Radio show after three misconduct complaints were upheld against her. She described the preceding five months as "brutal," impacting her mental health, sleep, and appetite. Adams expressed a desire to process these events privately and focus on getting her life back on track, including spending more time with her daughters.
Adams had previously sparked concern among followers in March when she posted a picture of her neck bandaged. During the podcast, she also detailed the process of the second biopsy performed just before recording, involving a needle biopsy of a node on her thyroid. She noted that the lump had not grown in size since she first found it last year, but it required ongoing monitoring.