Photo: Wenn
Former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson says he has been cured of the pancreaic cancel he was diagnosed with in 2012.
Johnson was given 10 months to live after rejecting cheotherapy but had radical surgery to remove the tumour. "It was an 11-hour operation," he told the BBC at the Q Awards in London. "This tumour weighed 3kg - that's the size of a baby," he continued. "Anyway, they got it all. They cured me."
Johnson explained how being given the hugely unexpected all clear has caused him to reexamine his life. "It's so weird and so strange that it's kind of hard to come to terms with it in my mind. Now, I'm spending my time gradually coming to terms with the idea that my death is not imminent, that I am going to live on."
Describing his initial diagnosis to GQ's Tony Parsons last year Johnson explained. "I'm going to have to readjust my mind as well as my body. My reaction to the diagnosis of terminal cancer was euphoria. The doctor was sitting there drawing on his diagram - yes, you have this mass and unfortunately we can't operate on it. You've got cancer. You're going to die. I was absolutely calm. Not a flutter. And he gave me a few more details and I sat there nodding. And when I walked home - it was January, a beautiful winter's day - I remember looking up at the trees against the sky and feeling this rush - I'm alive. It was so intense!"
As well as a farewell tour, Johnson also recorded a hugely well received album Going Back Home album with The Who's Roger Daltrey. The deluxe edition is set to be release in November, complete with new tracks. As Johnson said himself at the Q Awards "I was due to die in October. It was November when we did it". Johnson revealed the record is 'very strange" but "so much fun".
Below: See Wilko Johnson rock Koko
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