Gabby Logan shares husband’s ’emotional’ prostate cancer diagnosis story

Former rugby player Kenny Logan reveals his prostate cancer diagnosis in a BBC Breakfast interview with his wife Gabby Logan. Picture: BBC

Gabby Logan has shared the “emotional” story of her husband Kenny Logan’s “shock” diagnosis of prostate cancer in her podcast.

In the intimate episode of the Mid.Point, the couple who have been married for 21 years chart the former professional rugby player’s journey through diagnosis and recovery.

Ex-Scotland international Logan, 50, said it was important to use the platform to make “men of a certain age” aware of the risks and get the “simple” check-up.

He had gone for his own checks after listening to his wife’s podcast, which deals with physical and mental health issues affecting middle-aged people, and was diagnosed with prostate cancer on February 8 of this year – later undergoing an operation to remove his prostate.

Gabby Logan, presenter of The Mid.Point podcast.

Speaking about the diagnosis on the podcast, Mr Logan said: “I think when somebody tells you’ve got cancer… you know that you’ve got a huge chance of getting it.

“But when somebody says it, it sort of just didn’t really sink in.

“I just got a bit upset, and it was hard, it’s weird.”

He added: “That’s why I want to do this because people do need to… men tend to be a bit stubborn. ‘We’ll do it tomorrow. Next weekend.’

Logan said it was important to use the platform to make “men of a certain age” aware of the risks and get the “simple” check-up.

“I didn’t realise and, you know, I lost a good friend this year through cancer, and he didn’t really do it quick enough.

“So… at his funeral, I was thinking I’d gone and got tested and he didn’t and I wish he had. So it’s hard.”

Mr Logan was told that his cancer was contained in the prostate but an operation was required to remove it.

The couple shared a follow up conversation, also featured on the podcast, shortly before he underwent the operation in which he revealed he had not yet told his 90-year-old mother about the diagnosis.

Asked how he was feeling at the time, Mr Logan said: “Nervous and emotional.

“Because I’ve waited for a while for this… it feels like it’s never going to come.

“And I’m nervous thinking about family, thinking about you. My mum doesn’t know I’ve got prostate cancer, she doesn’t know that I’m going in.”

The couple also appeared on TV ahead of the episode’s release, in which Ms Logan admitted that it had been an emotional recording process, but said she wanted people to learn from it.

“Because it’s my job I suppose I went into work-mode a bit… I tried to talk to Kenny in a way we could elicit information,” she said.

“I want people to listen to it and learn about it. I wanted to listen to this podcast on February 8 when Kenny was diagnosed and I want people to learn something from it.

“(But) of course there is some emotion.”

She also praised her husband’s “brilliant” consultant urologist, Declan Cahill, who she interviews extensively about the condition on the podcast.

Mr Logan said that despite receiving “a good kicking” during surgery he was on the road to recovery, though he described the process as “demanding”.

“I think the key thing is to be positive. You know, I’ve been lucky,” he said on the podcast.

“It’s a very simple process. So hopefully some people will go get tested off the back of this and hopefully save some people’s lives.

He added: “Talk to your mates. Definitely talk to mates, be open. Don’t be scared to see how you feel.”

The couple promised to share future updates on Mr Logan’s recovery progress.

Laura Kerby, chief executive of Prostate Cancer UK, praised the Logans for sharing the diagnosis as high-profile figures.

“We want to thank Kenny, and the Logan family, for sharing his diagnosis publicly and using this as a moment to increase awareness of the most common cancer in men,” she said.

“We at Prostate Cancer UK know first-hand the impact that a public figure speaking out like this can make.”

It comes following the death of former BBC Breakfast presenter, and Prostate Cancer UK ambassador, Bill Turnbull.

Turnbull’s campaigning led to prostate cancer becoming the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK for the first time in 2020, which Ms Kerby said has “undoubtedly saved thousands of lives”.

The former BBC Breakfast presenter died at home in Suffolk aged 66 last Wednesday after being diagnosed with the disease in November 2017.

Since then, Turnbull campaigned to raise awareness among those at risk as an ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK.

Ms Kerby said the journalist and broadcaster “leaves a resounding impact”.

She said: “Thousands and thousands of men have come forward as a result of him helping us raise awareness of Prostate Cancer UK – and him just telling his story.

“He has saved lives – 11,500 men die in the UK every year of prostate cancer and he would have helped some people come earlier (for testing) so that they could have avoided that.

“One in eight men are affected, one in four black men, and he has made a huge impact in reaching into those communities, as a man telling his story, being brave.

“We will be forever grateful for everything that he’s done to help men find out about their prostate cancer risk, and everything he’s done for us at Prostate Cancer UK.”

Ms Kerby said that after Turnbull announced his diagnosis, levels of referrals to the NHS increased by about 20 per cent and her charity’s helpline also saw a large increase in calls.

Broadcaster and author Stephen Fry also revealed he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer in 2018, sparking what has been described as the “Turnbull/Fry effect” – a marked increase in referrals.