Trevor Nelson reveals brain tumour diagnosis after undergoing “very serious surgery”

Trevor Nelson has revealed he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and underwent “very serious surgery”, which he said went “incredibly well”.

The BBC Radio 2 and Radio 1Xtra presenter announced that he was stepping away from his work commitments in June, after a routine check-up led to further tests.

At the time, Nelson did not share details of his condition, instead telling listeners that he was “concentrating on getting better” and returning to “100 per cent me”.

In a new video posted on Instagram today (August 20), the DJ explained that he had decided to reveal his diagnosis after an outpouring of support from listeners and some speculation about his absence.

“A lot of you may have seen the post that I put up at the start of summer, saying that I was stepping back from all my work commitments due to illness,” he began. “There’s been a lot of speculation as to what’s wrong with me, I know that much. My phone’s blown up 20 times over with people asking what’s wrong with me.”

He continued: “I’m not going to go into it all now, and I will probably deep dive into it at a later date so you can hear the whole crazy story, but I’ll tell you this: I was minding my own business and it was discovered that I had a brain tumour.”

“As you can imagine, I was shocked,” he said. “In fact, my world was turned upside down.”

“It was a shock to myself, my close family and friends, and yeah, I mean, you can imagine – quite literally, my head was all over the place. I knew I had to stop work because I couldn’t be that guy on the radio knowing I had that going on.”

He said he underwent “a very serious surgery” which he said “went incredibly well”, and added: “I can only tell you the truth, and the truth is, I feel great right now. I feel ready to come back. I feel energised. I feel almost back to myself. Yes, I’ve had a really serious situation, but I’ve come out the other side at this point. I feel great. I feel raring to go.”

Nelson concluded by thanking fans and saying he would be “on the radio very, very soon”.

In the comments, his BBC radio colleague Clara Amfo wrote: “Thank God for your brilliant surgeons, you’re meant to be here UT! Love you.”

Craig David added: “We all love you Trev. Take your time.”

Before his break, Nelson presented a weekday afternoon programme on BBC Radio 2 and a Sunday morning show on 1Xtra. He celebrated 30 years at the BBC earlier in 2026.

Speaking to NME in 2024, he said that radio remained “in a healthy place”, adding: “One thing about radio I’ve learned – it’s not really about you, it’s just about your audience. You are servicing them, in a sense.”