Ronnie Wood has revealed he was diagnosed with lung cancer three months ago.
The Rolling Stones rocker, 70, had part of his lung removed in an effort to beat the disease, but admitted he feared it was “time to say goodbye” after learning the news.
A routine medical with the band’s doctor, Richard Dawood, led to the discovery of the tumour, but he then faced an agonising week to find out whether the cancer had spread.
Speaking to the Mail’s Event magazine, Ronnie said: “I’ve 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.
Ronnie explained he “wasn’t surprised” to receive the diagnosis, having spent £50 years chain smoking” and had also not had a chest X-ray since 2002.
He also admitted he would have refused further treatment if the cancer had spread, going on to explain: “If that had happened, it would have been all over for me.
“I made up my mind that if it had spread, I wasn’t going to go through chemo, I wasn’t going to use that bayonet in my body.
The guitarist claimed doctors caught the tumour early and is is “OK now”, although he will have to have check-ups every three months to ensure it doesn’t return.
“Someone up there must like me,” he said.
Ronnie became a dad for the fifth and sixth time last year, when he and his wife Sally welcomed twin girls two days before his 69th birthday.
He is also dad to Jesse, 39, with his first wife Krissy, and Leah, 37, and Tyrone, 32, from his second marriage with Jo Wood. He also adopted Jo’s son Jamie, now 41.