Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood has revealed he was recently diagnosed with cancer for a second time, but has been given the all-clear.
Speaking to the Sun, Wood said: “I’ve had cancer two different ways now. I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown … I came through with the all-clear.”
Small-cell carcinoma is a type of cancer most commonly found in the lungs.
In 2017, he was found to have lung cancer during a routine health check, and underwent a five-hour surgery to have it removed. He turned down chemotherapy: “I wasn’t going to lose my hair. This hair wasn’t going anywhere,” he said later that year. “I said, ‘No way.’ And I just kept the faith it would be all right … I was bloody lucky but then I’ve always had a very strong guardian angel looking out for me. By rights I shouldn’t be here.” He continued touring with the Rolling Stones later that year.
In further comments to the Sun regarding his second diagnosis, he said: “I’m going through a lot of problems now, but throughout my recovery, you have to let it go. And when you hand the outcome over to your higher power, that is a magic thing … What will be will be, it’s nothing to do with me. All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power.”
Wood, who is also a visual artist, made paintings during his recovery “to express and get lost”.
As well as Wood readying a solo album for release – a live recording at the Royal Albert Hall of a tribute to blues musician Jimmy Reed – the Rolling Stones are working on their first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. A single, Living in a Ghost Town, was released in April 2020.
In 2016, he fathered twin girls at the age of 68, with his third wife Sally Humphreys.
