Kathy Griffin is cancer-free after stage 1 lung cancer battle
BANG Showbiz English
Kathy Griffin is cancer-free.
The 61-year-old comic recently had half of her lung removed after being diagnosed with stage one cancer, and during an appearance on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ this week, she declared she is in remission.
She told the host: “I’m cancer-free.
“I don’t know why, I had a tumour, right? And I’ve never smoked, and it was in there for 10 years. So get this, they took it out and found it in another scan.”
The ‘Trojan War’ actress also spilled about her doctor trying to impress her with his jokes, even comparing the lung to a used condom when it’s taken out.
She recalled: “So I go in, and he’s like describing how they take half your lung out, and he goes, ‘It’s kind of like a balloon.’ So, we do it laparoscopically and we poke it, then he goes, ‘And when we take it out, kind of looks like a used condom.’
“And then he goes, ‘You can use that.'”
She joked: “And I just did. And insurance covered it.”
Commenting on her higher-pitched vocals from surgery, she said: “It will heal, but I’m sort of enjoying it.
“I’m a good two octave’s higher, I think.”
Jimmy asked: “Is it two octaves, really?”
To which she quipped: “It might be. It’s higher than Mariah Carey, I know that.”
Kathy recently admitted she was struggling with her breathing and a cough post-op.
She wrote: “One thing that sucks about cancer, it’s hard to focus on anything else when one is experiencing shortness of breath, deep coughing, pain, extreme fatigue & in my case, vocal chord issues.”
However, Kathy could still see the lighter side of her condition as she loves using it to “clap back” at her critics.
She added: “One thing that doesn’t suck about cancer…how shameless I am when clapping back at people who dare to sass Ms. Kathy about anything with ‘Really, d***head??? TRY CANCER!’ I cannot get enough of it.”
The flame-haired funnywoman first revealed her diagnosis in August.
She wrote at the time: “I’ve got to tell you guys something. I have cancer. I’m about to go into surgery to have half of my left lung removed. Yes, I have lung cancer even though I’ve never smoked! The doctors are very optimistic as it is stage one and contained to my left lung. Hopefully no chemo or radiation after this and I should have normal function with my breathing.”
