Melbourne radio host and former TV presenter Derryn Hinch (pictured) has told listeners of his 3AW drive-time program that he has been diagnosed with liver cancer and is to undergo “major surgery very soon”.
Hinch, 66, said he will be told later this week when the surgery is to go ahead and that he expects to be off-air from the station for a month.
He told listeners that he is feeling positive and determined to beat the illness:
“I am not down, I’m not depressed, I don’t feel sorry for myself. I’m as passionate as ever about the causes that I’m fighting for and maybe even more so.”
“I intend to beat it. I know everyone says that but I do truly believe this is not the end; it’s the beginning of something.”
“As somebody once said, ‘That’s life.’ “
With a background in print and radio journalism in New Zealand, Australia and the US, Hinch made the move to television in the early ‘80s as the host of the Seven Network’s Willesee At Seven and daytime panel show Beauty And The Beast. In 1987 he had been signed up by media tycoon Christopher Skase to front the revived Seven Network’s current affairs coverage, with Hinch At Seven running for four years on Seven and then a further two years (as Hinch) on Network Ten. While at Ten, Hinch scored the first Australian interview with the fugitive Skase in Majorca.
At the end of 1993 he was announced as the successor to Ray Martin as host of Nine’s Midday, a role that lasted a year.
Since 2003 Hinch has presented drive-time on radio station 3AW, syndicated across Victoria, after several years at former talkback station 3AK. He has also appeared in Dancing With The Stars and had a cameo role, as himself, in Underbelly.
In 2006 he suffered near-death with liver disease, septicaemia, kidney malfunction and immune system failure.
Earlier this year he celebrated fifty years in the media.