Updating an earlier story, George Harrison, who has been battling cancer, said today (July 9) that he’s “feeling fine” after receiving radiotherapy treatment in Switzerland. The 58 year-old former Beatle was treated at the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland in Bellinzona more than a month ago, he said in a statement released by his London lawyer.
“I am feeling fine and I am really sorry for the unnecessary worry which has been caused by the reports appearing in today’s press,” Harrison said in the statement.
Earlier, the Swiss weekly Sonntagszeitung reported that leading Swiss cancer specialist Franco Cavalli was treating Harrison for a brain tumor. The newspaper said Harrison had visited Ticino regularly in the past two months. It said he rented a house in Luino, Italy — a 40-minute drive south from Bellinzona — and was treated at the cancer institute during May and June.
Harrison’s statement made no reference to a brain tumor and did not say why he had undergone the radiotherapy treatment. The hospital, in Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region, confirmed Harrison had been a patient, but did not address the question of whether he has a brain tumor.
“Mr. George Harrison was referred to the hospital to undergo a course of radiotherapy. Harrison successfully completed this course more than a month ago and we foresee no need for further treatment here,” Cavalli said in a statement.
Harrison has a history of cancer. He had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., at the beginning of May to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs.
He also was treated for throat cancer in the late 1990s after he found a lump on his neck. He had surgery followed by two courses of radiation therapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Britain’s leading cancer treatment center.
“Luckily for me they found that this nodule was more of a warning than anything else. There are many different types of cancerous cells and this was a very basic type,” he said at the time.
In 1999, Harrison also suffered a punctured lung when he was stabbed by a man who broke into his home west of London. Michael Abram, 34, was acquitted by reason of insanity and confined to a mental hospital.
Earlier this year, the intensely private Harrison said: “I had a little throat cancer. I had a piece of my lung removed in 1997. And then I was almost murdered… But I seem to feel stronger. I don’t smoke any more. I’m a little more short of breath than I used to be, so I don’t see myself on stage lasting a full 14 rounds.”
The Beatles broke up in 1970 and Harrison, the youngest and quietest of the Fab Four, went on to a successful solo career with hits including “My Sweet Lord.” In January, he re-released his 1970 solo album “All Things Must Pass,” and is among the guests on “Double Bill,” the fourth album by former Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman and his group the Rhythm Kings.
Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Related
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news