Only Fools and Horses’ legendary Mickey Pearce actor diagnosed with cancer
ONLY Fools and Horses actor Patrick Murray, who played trilby-loving Mickey Pearce, has revealed he had a cancerous tumour in his lung.
It comes four months after cancer killed his co-star John Challis — wheeler-dealer Boycie on the BBC1 sitcom.
Patrick, 65, said he wanted to make his illness public to endorse a government ad urging people to check out unexplained aches and pains.
He said its removal might have saved his life and hoped to encourage others to do the same.
Patrick, who has a seven-year-old girl, tweeted: “Naturally I wanted to keep my own health problems private, but failing to fully endorse this ad would be selfish.
“Thanks to my ultrascan I have a fighting chance.
“It showed my organs needed further investigation and tumours were spotted.
“This led to a PET scan which covers a much larger area.
“To my wonderful surprise these lesions were not cancerous but the scan did find an early-stage cancerous tumour in my lung. This has since been removed.
“I am tweeting now, which wouldn’t be the case if I hadn’t had the ultrasound all those months ago.
“A lot of people put these symptoms down to age and the discomfort to simply having a weak stomach.
“Please don’t ignore it if it persists.
“As for me, and thanks to the NHS, I can now see the same beautiful horizon as you.”
Patrick played dim-witted wide boy Mickey alongside David Jason as Del and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney on Only Fools and Horses from 1983 to 2003.
The Londoner was among mourners at the funeral of co-star John, who died aged 79 last September.
Patrick revealed four years ago he was being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
In 2016 he married Anong, 40, in Pattaya, Thailand, where he lived for several years before moving back to the UK. The couple have a daughter, Josie.
