From BBC’s Breakfast to her agony aunt role on This Morning, she has brought comfort and relief.
But viewers were shocked recently when Sunderland-born Denise, 83, revealed she was suffering from pancreatic cancer.
The news struck a particular chord with Andy Jarvis.
It’s three years since the Inverness oil rig worker noticed the first symptoms of his pancreatic cancer.
His insistence on getting checked out, and the practiced eye of a consultant, resulted in the speedy surgery that saved his life.
“I was due to go to Las Vegas for my 50th birthday in 2013 when I started getting really bad stomach pains,” said Andy, now about to turn 53.
“The doctor thought it might be gallstones and as the pain subsided I didn’t think too much more about it.”
A couple of months later, though, welder Andy became concerned again because of the colour of his urine and stools.
As he’d started looking jaundiced, the rig medic arranged for him to be airlifted off by helicopter for an ultrasound and then a CT scan.
“The junior doctor said she couldn’t see anything conclusive but there was a consultant around that Friday afternoon who might have a look,” said Andy.
“She didn’t seem concerned, so it was a massive shock when the surgeon came and told me he’d spotted a tumour at the head of my pancreas.
“I went blank. I think my wife Morag took it in more than me.
“He explained he was going to do what’s called a Whipple’s operation.”
One week later Andy was under the knife for the major operation.
But not before the dad-of-three, also a granddad to eight-year-old Taylor, had time to reflect on the future.
“When you’re with the family you have to be positive.
“In bed, when it’s dark and quiet you can’t help but think the worst.”
Fortunately, Andy’s tumour was caught at stage two and the surgery was a success. A year on he had a scare when crippling pains led to him being airlifted to hospital again, but it was pancreatitis, not the feared return of the cancer.
He knows he has been very lucky.
New figures from Pancreatic Cancer UK suggest the numbers diagnosed will soar by a third to 12,000 a year by 2030.
But if the survival rates stay the same, only 5% will live for five years or more.
The charity says those shocking statistics have barely improved for the past 40 years.
“More funding and better awareness is needed urgently,” adds Andy. “The survival rates for other cancers are going up but it’s depressing the picture as far as pancreatic cancer is so bleak.”
Alex Ford, of Pancreatic Cancer UK said: “We wish Denise all the best with her treatment. We hope her openness will encourage people to find out about the symptoms.”
For more information, see pancreaticcancer.org.uk
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