Lord Henry Mountcharles has told how a treatment for a suspected kidney stone saved his life.
The 67-year-old has been battling lung cancer since 2014, but his diagnosis happened almost by chance on a trip to the States.
Irish Mirror columnist Lord Henry recalled a hospital visit in Palm Beach, Florida after he awoke in agony at 4am with suspected kidney stones.
He said: “I was put through a machine and the nurse saw something.
“To cut a long story short I got back to Dublin as soon as I could.
“I had the lower lobe of my right lung removed just before St Patrick’s Day.
“I value that kidney stone because it saved my life. I had no symptoms, none at all.”
Lord Henry, who has hosted concerts at Slane Castle since 1981, lamented the lack of funding for early intervention and screening for lung cancer.
He added: “The thing about lung cancer is there’s a stigma attached to it. People attach it in their minds with smoking.
“I gave up smoking a very long time ago at the age of 20. The type of cancer I have is nothing to do with smoking.”
In an interview with RTE Radio One’s Marian Finucane Lord Henry told how medics told him he was not going to make it just days before Christmas 2017.
He revealed: “I was told at one stage I was going to die and they were withdrawing treatment. I was lucky to walk out of hospital alive.
“It has changed my perspective on life because every time I wake up in the morning I don’t care if the sun’s shining or it’s p***ing with rain I’m a happy man because I’m alive.”
Lord Henry said it was “appropriate” to have Metallica headlining at Slane on June 8 this year, revealing that the band’s song Nothing Else Matters has taken on a new significance for him.
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In a wide-ranging interview Lord Henry also admitted being “dumped with the responsibility” of managing Slane Castle at the age of 25 because his father couldn’t cope.
But despite having a bright career ahead of him in publishing he insisted he’s “never regretted it”.
And he’s learned to take abuse from trolls who have threatened him and called him a “vulgar British toad” on the chin.
He said: “I was born in Dublin, my family have lived in Slane since 1703.
“I just happen to have been born a southern Irish protestant and my father happens to be a peer of the realm.
“It’s something you learn to live with. Now having been through a life and death experience it doesn’t have that impact on me any longer.
“I just brush it off.”
