“We really thought things were going to be okay but cancer sucks.”
Notorious said the 7 Days team captain remains committed to making Kiwis laugh and “his focus is now on getting better so he can continue to do so”.
Fellow comedians were amongst the first to express their support for the comedy stalwart after the announcement. Liv McKenzie commented “Love you Dai!”
In late February the comedian postponed two shows in Invercargill and New Plymouth due to “tumour activity” in his lungs.
The shows were rescheduled for June but will no longer go ahead. Ticket holders will be contacted by their ticketing agent to arrange a refund.
At the time Henwood gave an update on his medical status, sharing he’d had a “beautiful summer” and had been off cancer treatment.
“But as you can tell by my coughing, my breathing has deteriorated really quickly over the last two weeks,” he said.
“I’ve obviously got some tumour activity going on in my lungs, so I am going into chemotherapy a bit earlier than expected on Wednesday.
“Fingers crossed that’s going to knock things back and I’ll be able to talk and do what I love doing, which is comedy – and breathing of course.”
Henwood last posted on his own Instagram account at the end of March, sharing he was “doing chemo at the moment” and asking for recommendations for long sleeved t-shirts and wide brimmed hats because the drugs he was taking “make me extremely photo-sensitive”.
Henwood was diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in 2020 and went public with a stage-four cancer diagnosis in January, 2023.
In September 2024, the first of the three-part documentary series Live and Let Dai was released, documenting the comedian as he underwent treatment for his incurable cancer diagnosis.
