Neil Warnock says Sol Bamba is in good spirits after it was announced the former Leeds United defender has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Cardiff City released a statement on Monday night confirming the 35-year-old was facing a battle against cancer and has already begun a course of chemotherapy treatment.
Leeds United and several players individually sent their best wishes to Bamba on social media, with the club saying: "The thoughts and best wishes of everyone at Leeds United are with Sol Bamba.
"Get well soon, the Leeds family is right behind you! #MOT".
After the sad news, Warnock delivered an update on Bamba's wellbeing after a lengthy phone call with his former captain.
"I spoke to Sol. He's almost part of the family. We've been through that much together," Warnock told talkSPORT.
"It just shows you how we've got to grasp at every aspect of life while we're here because it doesn't matter who you are, you're not immune to anything.
"He's coping very, very well in the circumstances. He's inundated with messages, as you can imagine.
"I made him laugh yesterday. Obviously, Sharon's (Warnock's wife) been through chemotherapy as well, so I told him 'listen, there is some good news, Sol. At the end of the day, Sharon got three or four wigs when she had chemotherapy, and she's prepared to let you borrow them!'
"But listen, if anyone can overcome this, it's Sol. He's such a fighter and we all wish him well."
Warnock began to get misty-eyed when reminiscing over his relationship with Bamba despite one high-profile bust-up between the pair.
"I just think, as a manager, you have relationships," he continued. "As I'm talking to you I've got goose-pimples thinking about him and me.
"I think about him and me having a fight at Ipswich on the touchline, with me trying to stop him getting sent off.
"But believe you me, there were more good times than bad times, and we've had some really good times.
"Everybody wrote Sol off before I signed him originally, and he's done so well for me. Not just as a player, but as a person.
"He's a super person, and that's the thing to come out of this.
"He's not daft, he knows there are people worse off in the world now, and he's going to fight it like he has done everything that's been put before him.
"But like I said, if anybody can come through it, it'll be Sol, with the determination he's got. He's got that in abundance."
