A regional daily editor diagnosed with throat cancer earlier this year has been given the all-clear after a radiotherapy treatment.

Dave Whaley, managing editor of the Oldham Evening Chronicle, discovered he had a malignant tumour on his vocal cords in May after developing a “croaky voice.”

He embarked on a course of radiotherapy treatment which he has subsequently described in a series of articles under the title ‘Keep Smiling.’

Now Dave, 53, has received the news he had been longing to hear – that the tumour has disappeared and his vocal cords are back to normal.

Dave wrote about the news in yesterday’s edition of the paper in another first-person piece headlined ‘There’s no masking the elation that one word can bring.’

He recalled the moment his consultant told him:  “Well the tumour has gone and the vocal cords look clear and normal.”

Since May, Dave has undergone 16 sessions of radiotherapy at Oldham’s Christie Hospital.

Had the treatment failed, the next steps would have involved chemotherapy and possibly surgery.

Wrote Dave:  “Obviously this is just the first positive snapshot.  The cancer CAN return. But I have a 90+ per cent of staying clear, helped in no small part by the fact that I am a non-smoker.

“Without doubt I have been very, very lucky. Had it not been for early diagnosis this could have been so different. I will be forever grateful to my family for “insisting” I go and get checked out and for the speed in which my GP had me in to see the specialist.”

He told HTFP:  “I have had fantastic support from both within the newspaper industry and the wider business community and this has helped me stay positive throughout.

“If my experiences make then better informed and less fearful of what is to come then some good has come out of a difficult time.”