Piers Morgan interviewed his ‘saviour’ on Good Morning Britain after the eagle-eyed viewer spotted he may be suffering from skin cancer during a TV appearance.
Gillian Nuttal, founder of Melanoma UK, noticed a blemish on 52-year-old Piers’ chest while watching ITV’s Serial Killer, which was presented by Morgan last November, and contacted him to advise he got it checked.
When the breakfast TV host visited a dermatologist, the doctor was horrified and removed the mark, which had not been bleeding or recently changed shape, within an hour.
Although he has now been given the all clear, the doctor told Piers the blemish would almost certainly have turned cancerous within months, telling him to give the observant viewer a ‘gold star’.
Expressing his gratitude, Piers said to those watching at home: ‘I am living testament to getting it checked. You’re playing with lives if you don’t; it takes 10 minutes’.
Melanoma, which is the most serious form of skin cancer and often spreads, affects more than 15,000 new people every year in the UK.
Piers Morgan interviewed his ‘saviour’ on Good Morning Britain after the viewer spotted he may have skin cancer during a TV appearance (pictured with his co-host Susanna Reid)
Gillian Nuttal (pictured), founder of Melanoma UK, noticed a blemish on Piers’ chest while watching the presenter on television and contacted him to advise he got it checked
Ms Nuttal said the mark, visible just above his open-neck shirt ‘caught her eye’ and ‘really bothered’ her (Piers pictured on ITV’s Serial Killer with convicted killer Mark Riebe)
Blemish was expected to turn cancerous
Piers said: ‘[The dermatologist] took one look at it and he cut it out within the hour. He said, “Give that lady a gold star”. Because if I hadn’t done something fairly soon he was pretty certain it was going to turn cancerous.’
Ms Nuttal emailed the father-of-three, who is married to journalist Celia Walden, 41, after noticing a blemish on his chest when the camera spanned during the documentary.
Piers, who has previously had several moles removed, was shocked to receive the email but promptly visited his doctor.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Piers said he is very grateful to Ms Nuttal, adding: ‘The key thing [the doctor] said to me is to keep having a check-up.
‘I am living testament to getting it checked. You’re playing with lives if you don’t get this stuff checked. It takes 10 minutes’.
A dermatologist was horrified and removed the blemish (pictured) within an hour
‘I haven’t got a Piers Morgan fetish, honestly!’
Piers previously addressed Ms Nuttall on the breakfast show he co-presents saying, ‘Thanks, Gillian. Oh the irony of a serial killer inadvertently helping to save my life. Merry Christmas!’
Ms Nuttal, from Manchester, wrote on social media: ‘He was interviewing a serial killer and I watched it – he had an open neck shirt on and it caught my eye.
‘I stopped the TV and looked closely – it really bothered me so as I’d got his email, just thought “quick shove in the right direction won’t harm”.’
She joked: ‘I was right. I haven’t got a Piers Morgan fetish, honestly!’
Speaking on the latest Good Morning Britain episode, Ms Nuttal added: ‘Our skin is our biggest organ but we never check it. Our message is to do skin checks every four to six months and report any changes.’
The show also featured make-up artist Joanna Morgan who has ocular melanoma; a type of cancer that develops in the cells that produce pigment and affects at most 600 people a year in the UK.