Adele Roberts has revealed she has suffered a terrifying second cancer scare after doctors were forced to remove a fast-growing lump in her neck—just two years after she was declared cancer-free.
The radio presenter, 46, shared that she first noticed the lump over the summer, describing how it “grew into a monster” despite treatment, four years on from her 2021 bowel cancer diagnosis. At the time, Adele underwent colostomy surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, eventually being declared cancer-free nine months later and beginning life with her stoma bag, affectionately named Audrey.
Posting on Instagram, Adele showed the scar behind her ear and explained that her week had been “wild”, saying she’d had “a camera up my bum, an enema that I thought would never end, and test results I’ve been scared about since summer.” She thanked the NHS and admitted she’d been carrying the secret for months as fans kept noticing her “array of plasters and patches”.
She said the lump refused to respond to treatment and “nobody knew what it was”, forcing her to see a specialist. Adele added that the uncertainty had weighed heavily on her and her partner Kate Holderness: “Poor Kate has been so worried… apologies if we’ve been a bit more weird than usual.”
Adele waited from late August until this week for the removal surgery, using marathon training as a way to cope, explaining that “running helped me channel my feelings, stay positive and focus on the people we were raising money for.”
She described her new scar as a piece of “Kintsugi—embracing imperfection,” saying she felt proud of it.
There was finally good news: doctors confirmed the lump was benign. Adele wrote she was “absolutely buzzing”, but revealed that her endoscopy results were unclear because “the enema didn’t work well enough”, meaning she must return for “Round Two” soon. She added: “If you’re worried about anything, please speak to someone. Early detection saves lives.”
A host of celebrities rushed to send love, including Zoe Ball, who praised Adele for making conversations about difficult procedures “normal”, and skating partner Mark Hanretty, who told her she was “too good a human for health worries”.
Adele’s resilience comes after her extraordinary achievement earlier this year: she became the fastest woman in history to complete all six major world marathons with a stoma—Boston, Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago, New York and London—finishing the London Marathon in just 3 hours 36 minutes. The emotional moment saw her reflect on her Guinness World Record and thank her girlfriend Kate for being “there every step of the way”.
Looking back on her journey, Adele admitted she once blamed herself for her cancer diagnosis, recalling how she asked doctors whether she had “caused it”, before being reassured it wasn’t her fault. “Cancer is a team effort,” she said, adding that she owes her recovery to her NHS team, including her beloved stoma nurse, Elaine.
Adele now hopes the next round of tests brings clarity so she can “leave the NHS alone for a bit” and continue inspiring thousands living with cancer and stomas worldwide.
