The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood reveals small cell cancer diagnosis during lockdown

Guitar icon has since been given the all-clear

Ronnie Wood has revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer during lockdown, and has since been given the all-clear.

The Rolling Stones star opened up about the experience in an interview with The Sun. 

“I’ve had cancer two different ways now,” he said. “I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had a small cell more recently that I fought in the last lockdown.”

Small cell is a disease in which the malignant cells are most often found in the lung – however, it can occasionally arise in other areas such as the prostate, pancreas, and lymph nodes.

He confirmed that he then “came through with the all-clear”.

The 73-year-old added that working on paintings of his wife Sally Humphreys and their four-year-old twins Gracie and Alice helped him with his recovery.

He also credited his decade-long sobriety and putting his fate in the hands of “a higher power”.

“I’m going through a lot of problems now, but throughout my recovery, you have to let it go,” he said. “And when you hand the outcome over to your higher power, that is a magic thing.”

(REUTERS/Fred Prouser)

Wood continued: “That brings you back to the [Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotic’s Anonymous] Serenity Prayer: ‘Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.’ That’s incredible. What will be will be, it’s nothing to do with me.

“All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power.”

Wood was previously diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017. At the time, he blamed the diagnosis on smoking, stating he smoked “25 to 30 cigarettes a day for 50-odd years”.

The London-born musician underwent a five-hour operation to have a part of his lung removed before being given the all-clear in 2018.