Tommy Walsh Speaks Out After Two Cancer Battles and Health Update 2026.

Tommy Walsh, the straight-talking builder best known for Ground Force and later Homes Under the Hammer, has spoken publicly about a series of health scares that began with what sounded like a routine trip to the doctor — and ended up changing his life.

Walsh, born in December 1956, became a familiar face on British TV thanks to his hands-on makeover work and easy humour, but in recent years he’s used his profile to push a more serious message: don’t ignore symptoms, and don’t delay getting checked.

A “nothing” appointment that turned into throat cancer surgery

In a March 25, 2022 NHS England campaign encouraging people to come forward with possible cancer symptoms, Walsh revealed that his diagnosis wasn’t the result of a dramatic collapse or a long list of warning signs. Instead, he said he went to his GP “about an unrelated issue” — and during that visit, the doctor noticed a lump in his throat.

Walsh said the lump was investigated and “unfortunately, it turned out to be cancerous.” The NHS campaign statement explains that he had surgery quickly to remove it, and later reported he was “fully recovered,” even returning to playing football.

That episode set the tone for how Walsh has framed his experience since: not as a celebrity health confession, but as a cautionary tale about how early detection can alter the outcome.

Earlier scare: benign chest lumps in 2002

Walsh’s 2022 diagnosis wasn’t his first brush with a frightening medical discovery. Reports and biographical notes about the presenter reference surgery in 2002 to remove benign lumps from his chest. At the time, the lumps were not cancer, but the experience still placed him in the category of people who know how fast “a lump” can escalate into a medical emergency.

The late-2023 “lung tumour” scare — and a race for scans

The next chapter surfaced publicly after Walsh spoke at a charity event connected to head and neck cancer awareness. According to reporting in January 2024, he told the audience he’d recently had a chest infection, was referred for a CT scan, and doctors thought there was a “three-centimetre tumour” in his lung. He said he had an emergency appointment for another scan in London the following morning.

At that point, the situation was still unfolding in real time — and early reports noted he hadn’t yet shared the outcome of that urgent follow-up.

2024 update: “just outside the lung,” and a treatment he says worked

 Walsh shared a more hopeful update in interviews picked up by major UK outlets. He said the cancer had been found under / just outside the lung, which mattered because it changed the treatment path.

Walsh said he received SABR (stereotactic ablative radiotherapy), a highly targeted form of radiotherapy designed to concentrate radiation on the tumour while reducing exposure to nearby healthy tissue.

He told reporters the treatment had shrunk the tumour, and he believed it would continue shrinking, with the plan shifting to annual checks afterward. He also praised being treated through the NHS.

Family history, and why he keeps speaking up

Walsh’s comments also referenced a family history of cancer — including reports that his sister underwent a lumpectomy at 31 — adding context to why he’s become so direct about the importance of getting symptoms assessed.

And despite online confusion that sometimes crops up with shared names, Walsh has continued to appear publicly. For example, an East London hospice charity posted in April 2025 that he supported the launch of its campaign for that year.

For Walsh, the headline isn’t just “TV star battles cancer.” It’s the quieter, more practical point he’s repeated since 2022: go to the GP when something feels off — even if you think it’s probably nothing.