Elton John performs at Global Citizen Live in Paris
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The hitmaker has had more than 50 Top 40 hits in the UK singles chart and Billboard Hot 100 across his career but in 2017 he was handed a devastating diagnosis. At the age of 72 the singer received the news that he had prostate cancer. Rather than having chemotherapy the legend decided to have surgery as he did not want the disease “hanging over” his family. Yet it was after the surgery that the singer’s real trouble began.
Writing in his memoir Me, the singer described the surgery he received in Los Angeles as a “complete success,” but 10 days after he noticed something was severely wrong.
“It turned out that I had a rare complication from the operation,” he said.
The singer’s health rapidly declined and he was rushed to a hospital in London where he spent 11 days.
An agonising wait the singer revealed that he would lie there at night “wondering if [he] was going to die.”
Leaving his two young children Zachary and Elijah at home with husband David Furnish the singer continued to explain: “In the hospital, alone at the dead of night, I’d prayed: please don’t let me die, please let me see my kids again, please give me a little longer.
“In a strange way, it felt like the time I spent recuperating was the answer to my prayers: if you want more time, you need to learn to live like this, you have to slow down.
“It was like being shown a different life, a life I realised I loved more than being on the road. Music was the most wonderful thing, but it still didn’t sound as good as Zachary chattering about what had happened at Cubs or football practice.
“Any lingering doubts about retiring from touring just evaporated.”
After his ordeal the singer cemented the decision to retire from touring to focus on his family.
Prostate Cancer UK explains that the prostate is a gland usually the size and shape of a walnut. It sits underneath the bladder and surrounds the urethra which carries urine out of the body.
When cells within the prostate start to grow in an uncontrolled way, it can cause prostate cancer. Although this type of cancer is usually slow growing, it can affect how long individuals live.
Doctors will use results of a prostate examination, biopsy and scans to identify the “stage” of prostate cancer and in turn this will determine the types of treatments that are available to the individual.
Like Elton, if the cancer is developed enough a radical prostatectomy can be performed. This is the surgical removal of the prostate gland and is the best option for curing prostate cancer that has not spread beyond the area.
As the NHS explains this surgery comes with potential risks and in some extremely rare cases can be fatal. It is also possible that prostate cancer could return after treatment.
More common side effects of the surgery include erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
Studies have shown that radiotherapy after prostate removal surgery may increase the chances of a cure, although research is still being carried out into when it should be used after surgery.
This major health scare is not the only one that has interrupted Elton’s musical career.
Most recently fans were bitterly disappointed that the star has been forced to reschedule his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour due to ongoing health issues.
After a fall on holiday, the star was left in “considerable pain and discomfort” and a damaged hip.
He said: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I am forced to reschedule the 2021 dates of my Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Europe and the UK to 2023.”
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