Rolling Stones Guitarist Ronnie Wood ‘Wasn’t Surprised’ By Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Ronnie Wood revealed that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The Rolling Stones guitarist opened up about his battle with the disease this weekend.

“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,” he told the Daily Mail in Sunday’s Event magazine.

Wood, who has battled addiction to alcohol, cocaine and heroin, was diagnosed three months ago. He said he knew that his health would decline eventually. “I had this thought at the back of my mind after I gave up smoking a year ago: ‘How can I have got through 50 years of chain-smoking — and all the rest of my bad habits — without something going on in there?’”

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So when the 70-year-old went in for his pre-tour check up, he discovered that there was indeed a big issue that needed to be addressed. “[Dr. Richard Dawood] came back with the news that I had this supernova burning away on my left lung,” Wood recalled. “And, to be totally honest, I wasn’t surprised. I knew I hadn’t had a chest X-ray since I went into Cottonwood [a rehab clinic in Tucson, Arizona] in 2002. He asked me what I wanted to do and my answer was simple: ‘Just get it out of me.’”

The rocker had given up smoking just before the birth of his fifth and sixth children. He shares 1-year-old twins Gracie and Alice with his third wife, Sally Humphreys. Wood credits Humphreys, 39, his wife of five years, with being his support system.

“So there was this one week when I didn’t know what was happening. Sally was amazing,” he explained. “It’s only since we’ve got through it that she has been able to tell me how it was the worst seven days of her life.”

Wood didn’t want to undergo chemotherapy if the cancer hadn’t spread, and luckily, it hadn’t. “It’s more I wasn’t going to lose my hair. This hair wasn’t going anywhere. I said, ‘No way.’ And I just kept the faith it would be all right,” Wood explained.

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Doctors were able to remove the mass completely during one surgery. The guitarist says he is fine now, but he is attending follow up appointments every three months to make sure the cancer stays away. Wood encouraged people to get checked early and often.

“They caught it early,” he said. “People have to get checked. Seriously have to get checked. 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.”

Wood may need to be in good shape when he heads back to work with the Rolling Stones, which he joined in 1975. During a fan Q&A, Keith Richards was asked if the band was going back into the studio soon. “Yeah, in fact, we are very, very shortly,” Richards revealed in the video, which was posted July 21. “Cutting some new stuff and considering where to take it next.”