Wilko Johnson undergoes major surgery to remove tumour

Wilko Johnson – who at the end of 2012 was given less than a year to live – has undergone a major operation to treat his pancreatic cancer. The former Dr Feelgood guitarist rejected chemotherapy after his diagnosis and was told his cancer would be terminal. However, he has remained very much alive and performing – supporting Status Quo just weeks ago – and releasing an acclaimed new album with Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home. “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,” he told GQ just before the operation.

It appears his tumour was a neuroendocrine tumour, which grows much more slowly than other types. Now he has had an operation at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge remove the tumour, as well as his pancreas, spleen and part of his stomach. He has cancelled 14 shows while he recovers from the surgery.

In an interview with the Guardian last year, Johnson spoke of his reaction to his diagnosis. “It was a surprise,” he said, “but it didn’t disturb me. We came out of the hospital and I was feeling high, elated. Normally I suffer from depression, and I thought maybe this was a reaction, but then a few nights later I was sitting in my room upstairs. I’ve got my room really nice, and it feels great sitting in there with my things around me. And I thought: ‘I love being in my room.’ Normally, I’d be sitting there thinking: ‘My room is very groovy … but I’m really hung up about this.’ I’d be worrying away about some rubbish. And now, suddenly, nothing mattered. Nothing mattered.”

Johnson told the Guardian that as well as making more music, he had ambitions to fulfil concerning his hobby of astronomy: “I do want to look at the Great Nebula in Orion, ‘cos Orion is passing now with the wintertime, so obviously it’s the last chance I’ve got to see Orion, and I wanna have a look at that. And, especially, I do hope I’m around to see Saturn again, which will be in the sky before too long.”

Source: The Guardian