Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones has revealed that he recently survived a serious cancer scare.
In an interview with Britain's Daily Mail, Wood says he's "had a fight with a touch of lung cancer. There was a week when everything hung in the balance and it could have been curtains, time to say goodbye." He goes on to detail how he was diagnosed three months ago, the uncertainty that followed that news and why he refused chemotherapy.
- The cancer on his left lung was discovered by the Rolling Stones physician during a routine checkup.
- Wood describes the week he waited to find out if it had spread as "the worst seven days" of his life.
- He says that whatever happened he wasn't going to undergo chemo -- for fear of losing his hair. He recalls that, "A week later they came back with the news that it hadn’t spread and I said, 'Let’s get it out now.' Just before I closed my eyes for the operation, I looked at the doctor and said, 'Let battle commence.'"
The 70-year-old father of six quit smoking a year ago, just before his twin daughters, Gracie and Alice, were born. He tweeted, "Thank you for all your words of support today. I'm feeling great and ready to see you on the road next month."
The Stones start their 13-show No Filter European tour on September 9th in Hamburg, Germany.