Aslan frontman Christy Dignam has revealed how he was at death’s door over the summer – but is now fit for the show of a lifetime at 3Arena.
The Dubliner said he was devastated about having to cancel some of the band’s gigs during the past few months, but his health had to become a priority or he was “a goner”. The 61-year-old suffers from a rare blood cancer called amyloidosis and he said the chemotherapy he was getting once a week in his battle against the disease had stopped working.
But now Christy said he has been given a new lease on life with a new trial drug and can’t wait to hit the 3Arena stage in Dublin next weekend. Speaking exclusively to the Irish Sunday Mirror, Christy said he is over the moon to be back to his old self and has assured fans next Saturday’s concert is going to be one they won’t forget.
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He added: “About three weeks ago they did a bone marrow biopsy. Basically what they do is they get a core of your bone marrow out and they put some of this chemo on it to see if it will kill the amyloid in the bone marrow and this one did, so it was a good candidate.
“If it didn’t work I was f***ed. Up to now you would come in [to the hospital] and recharge your batteries, this time it was different. This time it was life or death stuff. I was absolutely terrified this was not going to work, that I was a goner.
“For the week when I was waiting on the results I couldn’t eat or sleep. It’s like a death sentence. Someone is praying for me. I’m still here, which is the main thing.”
Christy said he spent the summer in hospital as doctors raced to try and figure out a form of treatment that would work for him. He added: “I was on another chemo I started two months ago and found out after a month or
so it wasn’t working. This new one is a trial drug and it seems to be doing the business.
“This is my seventh chemo and what happens is you start on chemo and it’s great but then the second time you do it your body starts recognising it, the cells start recognising it and find a way around it so then you have to try a new one. I was kind of running out of chemos because my condition is so rare.”
And Christy said he felt so sick and his health was deteriorating rapidly before doctors discovered a treatment plan that would work for him. He added: “My heart muscle has stiffened through the cancer. Imagine candy floss and if you kept wrapping that around your heart... it starts struggling to beat, so my heart is only working at two thirds of its capacity since I got diagnosed in 2013.
“As a result of that and because it was compromised there was not enough blood and oxygen getting to my kidneys. It meant I was not weeing as much as I should have been and then I got a build up of fluid. You literally start drowning in your own fluid, it’s f***ing horrific. The last three chemos I didn’t really respond well to.
“We went over to London, which is where the centre of excellence for amyloidosis is, and I said to the consultant, ‘How come I was getting a great reaction and now I’m not?’ and he said, ‘You have it nine years and your body is resisting all treatments’.” Christy said he can’t wait to perform for fans again next weekend and put on the show of a lifetime.
He explained how much he has missed not gigging as performing for him is like therapy. Christy said: “It was awful. I believe that as human beings we all have different aspects of our personality. I can kind of exercise my demons on stage and if I don’t do that I start to get very nancy – it’s like therapy for me.
“With the pandemic and not gigging for so long and then this on top of it, cancelling gigs, I wanted to do the gigs but I just couldn’t physically do it.” And Christy said the band will be supported on the night by Dublin singer ELLYD, who Christy said follows in some well-known footsteps.
He added: “We have a singer called ELLYD supporting us on the night. A good few who have supported us in the past have gone on to do great things. We pride ourselves on that, giving talented artists their start.
“We had Damien Dempsey, Damien Rice and Gavin James and it’s been great to see them go on to do greater things, that’s very satisfying for me. We wanted to give ELLYD this opportunity as she’s very talented. I’m dying to get on the stage. It’s been a while since we played a venue like the 3Arena. We played it when it was the Point.
“What I’m proud of is that we are able to do this in our 40th year – we have some of the best fans in the world. It’s a celebration of 40 years.”
- Tickets for the Aslan 3Arena concert next Saturday are available on ticketmaster.ie.
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