16 July 2023 , 19:20
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Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star Jake Abraham has revealed his cancer diagnosis as he shared a stark warning after "leaving it too late" to visit a doctor.
Born in Toxteth, before growing up in Kensington, the 56-year-old actor began his career in the 1980s, among what he called a "cauldron of talent" at The Everyman Youth Theatre. Since then, he has enjoyed a four-decade career on stage and screen - touring with the National Theatre and working with some of the biggest names in British drama, including fellow Liverpudlian.
However, he is probably best known for his role as Dean in gangster classic 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' - Guy Ritchie's 1998 debut starring Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones.
Jake continued to work until earlier this year - he was in pantomime 'The Scouse Jack and the Beanstalk' at the Royal Court, which ran until January. It was in February that he visited his doctor, having not felt quite right for some time.
Speaking from his home in Kensington earlier this week, Jake told the ECHO: "I was working but I wasn't feeling well. I was pushing through those spells when you don't feel yourself, you haven't got the energy and there are aches and pains.
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The actor shared his prostate cancer diagnosis (Liverpool Echo)"The costume for the play was enormous, I knew I wasn't well then but I'd not been well for so long. What made me go to the doctor and get a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test was that I passed blood in my urine. I got a test and ended up in the Royal. He said 'you've got cancer, I'm so, so sorry'. He said that I'd had it for years, maybe four years."
Jake was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It has since spread. He has tumours on his spine, his hips and has had one removed from his bladder. Jake has undergone radiotherapy, but he is now receiving palliative care.
He said: "Doctors have told me it could be months, it could be years. It's frightening. It's scary, to be confronted with your own mortality is the most scary thing you'll ever go through. To prepare for that and be cognitive mentally, but knowing that's what's coming, it's tough."
Facing terminal illness, Jake wants to encourage people to take tests. There's currently no national screening programme for prostate cancer in the UK, but a PSA test can find early signs of cancer and allow for earlier treatment.
He said: "I think most men take the approach of 'oh, I'll get on with it'. Well I'm palliative now, I found out really late down the line and there's nothing they can do for me - I've just got it now and I've just got to wait for the day.
Jake starred in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"But that could be avoided if you just get a PSA test. I know people might be waiting in a line and there's 18 in the queue, but just stick with the queue. Everyone else goes 'oh I'm not waiting', so you end up there with the appointment."
The actor also wants to break down the stigma of being checked for prostate cancer, with many people thinking that such a test would take a quite intrusive form. "People think it's like this (he makes a rubber glove gesture), but it's not", he said. "They take your blood and they'll tell you over the phone - you could save yourself 20 years of life."
At 56-years-old, Jake is now having to think about how to use the time he has left. His life has changed in many ways since his diagnosis, but the dad-of-two and grandad to four believes it has allowed him to focus on what truly matters.
He said: "Now what I want to do is make happy memories. All I want to do is the things I've always wanted to do - the bucket list. I want to go to Italy to see the architecture and history in Rome. I want to be with my grandkids. My dad died not long before I got cancer. He died of a stroke. I never thought that this young, I'd be talking about cancer.
"But what it does do is give you a focus on how important now is, how important each second is and how precious it is. That's what it's given me. You look at the grandkids and realise, I'm just so lucky in that sense. It gives you a perspective on that - I know I'm going to miss them."
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The support of family and friends has been crucial to Jake and he believes that remaining as positive as possible is the key to making the most of his time. Family have rallied around him, while his friends from the industry have offered support.
Actor Jake Abraham hands over the clapperboard from GBH back to writer Alan Bleasdale (Liverpool Echo)He said: "If I ever get down and start thinking about your funeral and dark thoughts, my mum is just 'oh shut up, you look great, you've got years left'. She said to me 'I wish I could take that off you and give you my life'. My mum has been so stoic. She's always positive and hilarious. I think that's where my acting comes from."
He added: "It (the diagnosis) sort of activates everyone. Most actors that I've ever worked with have shown up and have been there for me. You can't go through it without that support - all the tears are then forgotten. You could sit on your own in a room and cry all day and night if you wanted to, but that's just going to hasten your pace towards it - friends and family have been brilliant."
Shortly after Jake mentioned such support, there was a knock on the front door. In walked one of the finest writers of his generation, Alan Bleasdale, carrying a bag of pies from Anfield's Homebaked Bakery and a large bottle of Diet Coke.
Jake and Alan have worked together many times over the years, including the Channel 4 drama 'GBH' and the National Theatre play 'On the Ledge'. Alan, 77, often drops in on Jake to check how he's doing.
On this visit, Jake had a present for Alan - a clapperboard from 'GBH', which the actor was given at the wrap party back in 1990. Spending time with Alan, who generously offered the ECHO one of the pies, led Jake to look back on his career.
'Lock, Stock' looms large, but there are many roles that Jake reflects on with pride. Asked if the Guy Ritchie film changed his life, he said: "No. I didn't buy a big mansion. But it made me more famous, in a sense. Even to this day, I'll walk into a shop and someone will quote the lines to me. They know the lines better than I do, I think I only know them now because people shout them at me.
"You never know when you're doing something, you never know it's a sure hit until the audience sees it. Nobody expected it, but it did go massive. There hadn't been a British gangster film like that for a long time, it felt like it could've been 'The Long Good Friday'.
"In some sense, it was too successful for me as an actor. I don't rate myself at all, I don't think I'm a great actor." Alan doesn't agree. From across the living room, he asked Jake: "Do you want me to raise an objection from this corner?"
Jake then continued: "I've been lucky enough to do some great, great jobs. GBH for Alan, On the Ledge, some fantastic work. I've been really lucky, but I also did a lot of great stuff that I liked before 'Lock, Stock' came along, but it's one of those films that is a cult classic."
He added: "I do still think about working, but I was doing the jazz splits every single night twice - with prostate cancer. I would die on the stage, me. Most actors would, they'd go to the end. I needed to be dragged off the stage. I didn't know that I had cancer until the run finished and I went to check. I've loved working in this industry. If I had got my PSA check, I would have a lot more time to work."
As such, Jake has a simple message for people: "I was too late - please don't leave it too late. You could save yourself ten or twenty years with your children and your family - and that's the most priceless thing you've got."