How a push from John Farnham’s wife led to his life-saving diagnosis

The Australian public was left shocked after news broke of singing sensation John Farnham’s cancer diagnosis in 2022 with adoring fans following his recovery closely ever since.

While the spotlight has been on Farnham’s courageous battle, it was his wife, Jill, who played a pivotal role in getting him the help he needed.

In her husband’s memoir The Voice Inside, Jill’s contribution to the book details how she had pushed her husband to visit the doctor which ultimately led to his diagnosis.

“He had a big white mass on the inside of his cheek and you could physically see it,” Jill wrote in the book.

“For several months I was saying to him, ‘Let’s go see about that thing in your mouth,’ and he’d say, ‘No, it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright.’ He kept putting it off and putting it off. I pleaded with him to go see a doctor and finally he did.”

Jill’s persistence paid off with Farnham receiving the diagnosis of mouth cancer in 2022 before then shortly undergoing surgery. After enduring multiple surgeries, eight weeks of radiation therapy, and overcoming several challenges, Farnham received the “all-clear” from doctors in July 2023 and was declared cancer-free.

While fans are familiar with the struggle Farnham faced during his health ordeal, Jill opens up in the book about her own challenges during this difficult time.

Over the years I’ve had to be strong,” Jill wrote.

“I’ve had to be a wife, a mother, a psychiatrist, a doctor, I’ve had to be all those things in one. I’ve had to be strong and bossy to keep the family together, to keep moving forward, and I have done that because I love John and I love my family.

“John is a classic Cancerian, he likes to walk sideways and go around everything, rather than face any issues head-on.

“To this day he acts like that when he’s faced with a tough decision or situation. He always beats around the bush rather than deal with it and then, of course, that just makes a situation worse for him.”

Jill met her husband while performing as a dancer in the stage musical Charlie Girl, and the couple went on to marry on April 11, 1973.