Wilko Johnson had surgery after initial cancer diagnosis proved inaccurate


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Wilko Johnson underwent an operation to remove a cancerous tumour after an initial diagnosis was proved to be inaccurate.

Yesterday (April 30th), a spokesman confirmed the former Dr. Feelgood guitarist had cancelled his live plans for the summer in order to have what was described as a ‘medical procedure’ relating to the pancreatic cancer he decided not to seek treatment for in 2012.

And in a new interview with GQ, Johnson has explained further that first reports from doctors which declared the tumour ‘inoperable’ were revised after ‘a friend became curious as to why he wasn’t dead’.

“I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the end of 2012,” Johnson recalled. “I had ten months to live. Chemotherapy could perhaps stretch it to another couple of months. It was not difficult to decide I didn’t want this chemotherapy,”

“October was my deadline,” he continued. “If I can use that word, but October had come and gone and a friend of mine – who is both a photographer and a cancer doctor – became curious as to why I wasn’t dead. And why I wasn’t even sick.”

The tumour was found to be ‘neuroendocrine’, a less aggressive form than originally thought. “It’s unreal to me,” Johnson said. “I’m going to have to readjust my mind as well as my body.”

Read the interview in full here.


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