Celebrity hairdresser Trevor Sorbie has announced the sad news that he has terminal bowel cancer, telling This Morning viewers he may only have weeks to live
A much-loved member of the This Morning team has revealed they have terminal bowel cancer.
Legendary hairdresser, Trevor Sorbie, 75, broke the news on the show today, telling hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, he “might not make Christmas”.
Joined by his wife, Carole, in the studio, he said: “I lost a lot of blood one night and I was unusually disturbed about that. I went to the hospital and they told me I had bowel cancer.
“I had a little panic attack and Carole and I looked at each other and we were just both speechless walking down the road… I didn’t know what to say. I went and had a big gin and tonic and that helped! But then it spread to my liver, I had a six hour operation, but it came back to my liver, had another operation, and now the major [growth] they won’t cut it out because it’s too close to a major blood vessel.”
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Trevor continued: “But the thing is with me, I never wake up thinking, ‘Oh poor me, I’ve got cancer’ or feel sorry for myself, I know I’ve got it here [points to stomach] but I haven’t got it here [points to head] and I’ve been going to work two days a week, up until two weeks ago.
“I go there because that’s my medicine, that is my life. Sixty years I’ve worked passionately to achieve beyond my wildest dreams and when I go in, it’s my staff. I’ve had them for up to 30 years, they are like family, I’m just one of the team. I had a nurse access me and I said, ‘Will I make Christmas?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know Trevor’ and I said ‘I damn well will!”
Praising her husband, who opened his first salon in 1977 and boasts a range of top-selling hair products, for being so strong, Carole said: “It’s totally overwhelming most days, but I get my strength through this man – he’s guiding me through a good death – living a good life and dying a good death – and up until then I hadn’t through about that, but what we do every day now is show thanks for every day that we have and wake up together and it’s all the simple things.”
Revealing she has already started bereavement counselling, she continued: “I did struggle and was crying a lot but Trevor and my son encourage me to go to counselling and I’ve actually started bereavement counselling which I didn’t know you could do before and they are going to guide me through and hold my hand and up until two years, or however long it takes after the event, so I do feel very supported and feel lucky I have that support… but more so from Trevor than anyone because he’s incredible.”The iconic hairdresser, known for creating the iconic wedge haircut after working with Vidal Sassoon, said he had helped women with cancer by “cutting wigs for them”. Summing up his outlook on his diagnosis, Trevor concluded: “The brain rules the body – the heart play a big part as well – but that [the brain] is the engine room and because I’ve got a charity and have helped many women through cancer by cutting wigs for them and doing that, people handle it in different ways, there is no right or wrong way.”I believe the mind is stronger than any other function… doctors have even said, ‘Trevor, you’re breaking medical science, you shouldn’t be here right now.'”