Rolling Stones star Ronnie Wood has revealed that he secretly battled cancer for a second time in lockdown.
The 73-year-old was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive small cell cancer, four years after he had lung cancer in 2017.
He has since received the all-clear and says he owes his strength to working on paintings with his wife Sally, 43 and their four-year-old twins Gracie and Alice.
He received the devastating news while in lockdown, and credits the idea of a ‘higher power‘ for getting him through his cancer battle.
It is the core belief for Alcoholics and Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and resonated with Ronnie, who has been through eight stints in rehab.
(Image: PA)
Speaking to The Sun 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.
“That brings you back to the (AA and NA’s) Serenity Prayer: ‘Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change’. That’s incredible. What will be will be, it’s nothing to do with me.
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
“All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power.”
Ronnie blamed his last cancer diagnosis on smoking “25 to 30 cigarettes a day for 50-odd years” before quitting in 2016.
At the time he thought he was going to die, saying goodbye to his loved ones in preparation.
(Image: PA)
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He said: “There was a week when everything hung in the balance and it could have been curtains.”
The musician needed a five-hour operation to have part of his lunch removed before getting the all clear in 2018.
Ronnie spoke about the experience in his 2019 documentary Somebody Up There Likes Me.
He said: “They went, ‘Your lungs now are like you’d never smoked’ and I went, ‘How is that for a get out of jail free card?'”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
