Wilko Johnson reports he has mastered his battle with cancer.
The Dr Feelgood/Blockheads guitarist told fans he had the disease in his pancreas but elected not to undergo chemotherapy, instead making a new record instead. With exocrine pancreatic cancer, the five year survival rate ranges from 1 to 14%.
Given ten months to live, he prepared for the end, playing a farewell tour and recording a final album, Going Home, with Roger Daltrey of the Who.
Late last year, doctors got in touch with Johnson, surprised that he was still active. Further investigation found that he had a rare form of tumor, one that might actually be able to be removed. In April, Johnson underwent an eleven-hour operation and, on Wednesday night, he told a BBC correspondent that he is now cancer free. Wilko also said he was still recovering from the surgery and was learning how to live without a number of organs that were removed in the operation including his pancreas, spleen, part of his stomach and small and large intestines.
Still, the future looks bright if Johnson can just get his mind around the fact that he is not about to die. “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.”
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