Nick Owen's reflexologist wife played crucial role in cancer battle
The rock by Nick Owen’s side as he battles prostate cancer: How breakfast TV star’s reflexologist wife Vicki has played crucial role in his recovery from disease
- Vicki does a ‘lot of things medically’ for Nick, including issuing daily injections
- READ MORE: Nick reveals he’s being supported by BBC co-star Anne Diamond
Nick Owen says his wife has played a crucial role in his cancer recovery and remains his biggest supporter through this ‘very, very difficult time’.
The former TV-am star, 75, yesterday announced the devastating news that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, revealing that his wife Vicki Beevers had been by his side ‘all the time through this’.
Ms Beevers, who is a reflexologist working in what is known as zone therapy applying pressure to specific points on the feet, ears and hands, has also played a major role in his recovery, he revealed today.
Mr Owen said that his wife has done a ‘lot of things medically’ for him as he battles the illness – which upwards of 52,300 men are diagnosed with each year.
The pair had been together for 11 years, following the separation from his first wife Jill Lavery in 2009. Mr Owen and Ms Beevers wed in 2020 after postponing their nuptials twice, including because of the pandemic.
Nick Owen says his wife Vicki Beevers has played a crucial role in his cancer recovery and remains his biggest supporter through this ‘very, very difficult time’. The pair are pictured leaving BBC Breakfast Studio’s in Manchester this morning
Mr Owen revealed today that his wife has done a ‘lot of things medically’ for him as he battles the illness including ‘having to give me an injection once a day for about a month’. The couple are pictured on their wedding day in July 2020
Mr Owen revealed that his wife’s reflexology played a significant part in his recovery as she supported him through his cancer battle which involved his prostate being removed.
‘She had to do a lot of things medically when I came home, to look after me, including having to give me an injection once a day for about a month – and she’s got no experience of that,’ he told BBC One’s Midlands Today.
‘I’ve certainly got no experience of doing [it] myself or having it done by a non medical professional.’
Speaking when revealing his diagnosis, Mr Owen revealed it was ‘probably the worst day of my life’.
He told the programme: ‘I went to a specialist, he wasn’t too worried because my figures weren’t that high.
‘But he decided I ought to have a scan, and then the scan said there’s something dodgy going on, and then he sent me for a biopsy, which he did.
‘And the results of that were the killer – on April the 13th, a date (which) will forever be imprinted on my mind.
‘He told us that it was extensive, really, and aggressive, and I had prostate cancer full-on, and something needed to be done pretty fast.
‘And that was probably the worst day of my life, or certainly one of them.’
He added: ‘It was a very grim moment… driving home after that sort of news and ringing people, texting people, my phone went crazy for hours on end.
‘And it was a very, very difficult time for me, and indeed for my wife Vicki, who was by my side all the time through this, you know.’
‘By my side’: Nick revealed that his wife, Vicki Beevers, was a huge help in his recovery
Second marriage: Owen married Vicki having previously been married to Jill Lavery, with whom he has four children
Who is Nick Owen’s wife, Vicki Beevers?: READ MORE HERE
Mr Owen and Ms Beevers became a couple after the celebrity split from Ms Lavery in 2009.
He and Ms Lavery, who had four children in their 32-year marriage, reportedly left things on good terms.
Ms Lavery, a nurse, and Mr Owen are said to have simply ‘drifted apart’.
His ex-wife said at the time: ‘We have split. It was an amicable split. We’re on good terms. We are still friends.’
The pair had lived together in Birmingham, where Mr Owen anchored the regional news programme Midlands Today.
He and Ms Beevers finally became Mr and Mrs Owen in St Mary the Virgin Church, in Enville, Staffordshire, on July 4, 2020.
The couple had planned to wed twice beforehand, with the Covid lockdown thwarting previous plans.
When they did finally get married, Mr Owen was 72 and Ms Beevers 59.
The former TV presenter told Birmingham Live at the time that they were ‘thrilled to bits.
‘It was lovely – it really was. We’ve been together 11 years now and have talked about getting married and now it’s happened. It’s a wonderful feeling,’ he said.
‘We’re both thrilled to bits. It was a very quiet day and we didn’t go to the church until a quarter to 3 and it was all over by half past!
‘We’d been planning to get married a year ago, but twice for various reasons, including coronavirus, we’ve had to put it off.’
A long time coming: Nick (pictured in 2017) married Vicki in 2020, after they had been together for 11 years
Mr Owen yesterday announced he is suffering from ‘extensive’ and ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer.
Mr Owen said he had no symptoms and it ‘came out of the blue’ when a specialist told him he had the disease ‘full-on’. He said hearing the prognosis had been ‘probably the worst day of my life’.
The news comes just weeks after his co-presenter Anne Diamond, 68, revealed she is battling breast cancer and has undergone a mastectomy.
Along with their stint on TV-am, the pair had their own current affairs morning programme on the BBC in the 1990s, Good Morning With Anne And Nick.
Ms Diamond, 68, today told MailOnline it was a ‘terrible shock’ when Mr Owen told her that he was battling the disease.
She revealed the pair have been in ‘constant contact’ since she was first diagnosed with breast cancer last December, and shared how they went from being ‘TV’s golden couple’ to supporting each other as they battle the ‘biggest male and female cancers’ simultaneously.
Breakfast TV legend Nick Owen has revealed he’s being supported by his BBC co-star Anne Diamond as they both battle cancer
Ms Diamond said that she believes there is a ‘life lesson’ to be learned from their diagnoses and hopes their journeys can serve as a ‘warning’ to others to undergo regular health screenings.
‘Nick and I have been in constant touch since I was first diagnosed with breast cancer last December – and so it came as a terrible shock when he told me in April that he’d been diagnosed too,’ she told MailOnline.
‘There’s a life lesson in our predicament somewhere – that he and I used to be known as TV’s golden couple and now in our later years we each have the biggest male and female cancers – and at the same time!
‘Thankfully we’re both doing well, and hope our news is at least a warning to others to get their health regularly checked!’
Her optimistic outlook on the situation comes after Mr Owen today revealed that Ms Diamond was supporting him during his battle with cancer.
Anne Diamond says it was a ‘terrible shock’ when her BBC co-star Nick Owen told her that he was battling cancer, just months after she revealed her own diagnosis. The pair are pictured together in January 2018
Ms Diamond, 68, and Mr Owen have been in ‘constant contact’ since she was first diagnosed with breast cancer last December, MailOnline can reveal. She shared today how they went from being ‘TV’s golden couple’ to supporting each other as they battle the ‘biggest male and female cancers’ simultaneously. Ms Diamond and Mr Owen are pictured together in 1985
Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning the former TV-am star said: ‘We have been cajoling each other.’
‘It is fantastic [to have one another at this time] but it’s just so ironic that she and I, who are forever associated as a partnership professionally, both have the quintessentially male and female cancer.’
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. One in eight men will get prostate cancer at some point in their lives and more than 52,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘Nick has been one of the faces of Midlands Today for more than 25 years. Our viewers and his colleagues have missed him dearly in recent weeks.’
WHAT IS PROSTATE CANCER?
How many people does it kill?
More than 11,800 men a year – or one every 45 minutes – are killed by the disease in Britain, compared with about 11,400 women dying of breast cancer.
It means prostate cancer is behind only lung and bowel in terms of how many people it kills in Britain.
In the US, the disease kills 26,000 men each year.
Despite this, it receives less than half the research funding of breast cancer and treatments for the disease are trailing at least a decade behind.
How many men are diagnosed annually?
Every year, upwards of 52,300 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK – more than 140 every day.
How quickly does it develop?
Prostate cancer usually develops slowly, so there may be no signs someone has it for many years, according to the NHS.
If the cancer is at an early stage and not causing symptoms, a policy of ‘watchful waiting’ or ‘active surveillance’ may be adopted.
Some patients can be cured if the disease is treated in the early stages.
But if it is diagnosed at a later stage, when it has spread, then it becomes terminal and treatment revolves around relieving symptoms.
Thousands of men are put off seeking a diagnosis because of the known side effects from treatment, including erectile dysfunction.
Tests and treatment
Tests for prostate cancer are haphazard, with accurate tools only just beginning to emerge.
There is no national prostate screening programme as for years the tests have been too inaccurate.
Doctors struggle to distinguish between aggressive and less serious tumours, making it hard to decide on treatment.
Men over 50 are eligible for a ‘PSA’ blood test which gives doctors a rough idea of whether a patient is at risk.
But it is unreliable. Patients who get a positive result are usually given a biopsy which is also not fool-proof.
Scientists are unsure as to what causes prostate cancer, but age, obesity and a lack of exercise are known risks.
Anyone with any concerns can speak to Prostate Cancer UK’s specialist nurses on 0800 074 8383 or visit prostatecanceruk.org
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