The reaction from his television audience and those who had read his story in The Canberra Times was both immediate and deafening.

Hand-knitted beanies, cards of support and offers to use holiday houses flooded in.

This week the 36-year-old will walk back into that same studio - this time with a bit more hair - to tell the world he’s back. Friday will be his first on-air appearance since returning cancer-free from Sydney where he has spent months battling an unusual form of non-Hodgkins lymphomia.

While he’s aware of the public’s interest in his condition, like most journalists he’s looking forward to the story being about someone other than him. And his biggest worry about returning to the public spotlight? An attack of ‘‘chemo brain’’.

‘‘It’s a term used jokingly by cancer patients, the levels you have are so high that it can do damage that affects your memory.

‘‘It’s been amazing the response from people who watch the ABC that you bump into at the markets or I know from having grown up here.

‘‘At the same time it will be nice when things are just normal and you can talk about something other than being sick - you become that cancer guy for a while.’’

Coming out of his hospital bubble to return to life with wife Kerri, son Noah, 6, and daughter Violet, 2, on the first day of an icy Canberra winter, it was only weeks before Kimball again found himself in hospital fighting pneumonia and host of infections caused by his weakened, reforming immune system.

Having only just recovering from that episode, he’s pragmatic about the fact that his decision to return to daily life means he’s likely to be exposed to gems that could make him sick again.

‘‘Being anything other than pragmatic and positive just gets you nowhere and makes the process more difficult than it needs to be. A lot of people have said, ‘you’ve stayed so positive,’ but for me the alternative is you fall in heap because it’s such a horrible thing you’re going through and you’re already dealing with enough to be kicking stones along the street as well.’’

He also knows how fortunate he’s been, not just to have the support of loving family and friends around him.

There’s one guy who’s [in Westmead Hospital] who’s on day 230, so even though your experiences might be tough at the time, there’s always someone who’s doing it a bit tougher.

‘‘If I speak to others who are starting that process I say, that week will feel like the world is about to end at any moment but two weeks later you’ll be out the other side. Where it’s difficult is for those who don’t come out the other side and it just keeps getting worse and worse.’’

While the tests and worry of relapse will continue for some time, for now it’s the simple pleasures like dropping off kids at school and being able to return to work that will be his driving motivation to keep getting better.