INXS founding member Kirk Pengilly has revealed he underwent surgery earlier this year to combat prostate cancer.
The Australian musician was subjected to a “complicated five-hour surgery” in March after his specialist told him the cancer was certain to spread to other organs if it wasn’t immediately removed, according to an account published in the Sydney-based Daily Telegraph.
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The saxophonist and guitarist told the title that he’d been diagnosed with “very aggressive” prostate cancer, news he received via email while on holiday with his wife Layne Beachley, the retired surfing champion.
Tests revealed in April that the cancer hadn’t spread. “It will probably take 12 to 18 months for everything to be absolutely normal again,” said Pengilly, who turns 57 next week. “I see a physio fairly regularly now for rehabilitation with my bladder — the day I got the catheter out was a great day.”
Pengilly isn’t the only member of the iconic band to suffer with ill health this year. Guitarist Tim Farriss endured a series of operations to reattach a finger he severed in a grim boating accident in January.
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Despite announcing their retirement in 2012, INXS enjoyed a renaissance last year thanks to the ratings titan that was the TV miniseries Never Tear Us Apart. The band’s greatest hits album The Very Best (Petrol Records/UMA) hit No. 4 on ARIA’s year-end sales chart for 2014, the highest position achieved by any Australian act or by a group.