Roger O’Donnell, longtime keyboardist for The Cure, has cancer. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, who dropped off the band’s tour last year citing unspecified health reasons, revealed Sunday he was diagnosed with a “very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma.”
“I’m fine and the prognosis is amazing, the mad axe murderer knocked on the door and we didn’t answer,” he told his Instagram followers, using the platform to spread awareness for Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
“Cancer can be beaten but if you are diagnosed early enough you stand a way better chance, so all I have to say is go get tested, if you have the faintest thought you may have symptoms go and get checked out,” he continued.
After ignoring symptoms of the disease for months, O’Donnell was diagnosed in September 2023. A “devastating” biopsy followed.
“I’ve now completed 11 months of treatment under some of the finest specialists in the world and with second opinions and advice from the teams that had developed the drugs I was being given,” he said. “I had the benefit of the latest sci-fi immunotherapy and some drugs that were first used 100 years ago. The last phase of treatment was radiotherapy which also was one of the first treatments developed against cancer.”
According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lymphoma can “begin almost anywhere,” because it grows in blood-forming tissue and immune system cells found throughout the body.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma accounts for about 4% of all cancers, leading to an estimated 20,140 deaths so far this year. Hodgkin lymphoma is more rare, accounting for an estimated 8,570 new cases and 910 deaths this year.
Symptoms of the disease vary significantly, according to the American Cancer Society, with some patients showing no signs until the cancer has grown to a large size. Enlarged lymph nodes, weight loss, fatigue and swollen abdomen are some of the more common symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“Lastly if you know someone who is ill or suffering talk to them, every single word helps, believe me I know,” O’Donnell said.
Find more stories like this one on our Pulse Facebook page.
About the Author
