Wilko Johnson became the miracle man of music when he survived terminal cancer.
He faced the illness head on, went on a “farewell” tour and only got a second opinion when he was still alive two months after doctors said he should be dead.
Now the ex-Dr Feelgood guitarist is giving life another chance, rekindling a love affair with a Japanese fan he met 35 years ago.
Johnson, 68, underwent radical, complex life-saving surgery after his pancreatic cancer was less severe than doctors first thought.
He is now facing another fight, this time to win a British residency visa for the fan who travelled from Tokyo to nurse him back to health.
In an emotional, frank interview, the star also reveals how he cheated on late wife Irene over their 40-year marriage and his lovers included current partner Yuriko Daikoku.
He said: “Irene would approve. She and Yuriko became friends over the years. Irene was an extraordinary woman.
“She knew what the rock and roll lifestyle was like. I think she just accepted it was part of showbiz life, but there was never any doubt throughout that Irene was the one.
“If she said ‘get rid’ of someone then I did, but she wouldn’t want me to be alone now.”
Wilko’s is an incredible life story.
A former English teacher from Essex, he shot to fame in the mid-70s with Dr Feelgood, a founding influence of punk.
Over the years he’s played with the likes of Status Quo, Ian Dury and The Who’s Roger Daltrey, who collaborated on Wilko's 2014 album Going Back Home – thought at the time to be his last.
His 2010 acting debut as mute executioner Ilyn Payne in Game of Thrones – a role he won by perfecting his “cold hard stare” – introduced Wilko to a new generation of admirers.
But then, in January 2013, came the terminal cancer diagnosis after he found a lump in his stomach.
Bizarrely, instead of utter devastation when doctors delivered the news, the star felt “pure elation”.
“I’d always imagined hearing something like that would bring horror and panic,” says Wilko.
“But I was extremely calm, then I felt this extreme sense of elation that continued throughout my illness. Staring at death gives you profound feelings.
“Everything seems more vivid. Walking down the street everything seemed sharper, brighter, more in focus.”
The feeling was so acute that the veteran guitarist says: “I wish I could regain it. It’s like a powerful dream that has faded. Feeling like that almost made having cancer
worth it.”
Wilko was given 10 months to live but when his October deadline, as he calls it, came and went oriental fan Charlie Chan, a cancer doctor and amateur photographer, suggested he get a second opinion.
“Charlie started to wonder why I was still alive and not seriously ill,” says Wilko, who had been on a tour of Britain while “dying”.
Further tests revealed his pancreatic cancer was a neuroendocrine tumour – a rare and less aggressive malignancy.
In April 2014 he had his pancreas, spleen, part of his stomach and part of his small and large intestine removed in a nine-hour operation at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
Surgeon Emmanuel Huguet, who removed the 7lb 11oz tumour, said: “It’s no exaggeration to say Wilko’s been taken to the limit of what a human being can take.”
Recovery was long and arduous. But Wilko had the support of sons Matthew, 41, who lives in Dubai, and Simon, 30, who moved into his home in Southend.
But there was a third person by his side. When he believed he was dying Johnson went on a pilgrimage to Tokyo, a city he considers a kind of spiritual home.
He was reunited with fan Yuriko, a former girlfriend who became a friend of his wife Irene – who died of cancer in 2004.
Wilko, who describes Irene as a “saint”, explains: “I first met Yuriko and her friend Keiko 35 years ago when they came to a gig in Tokyo. There were half a dozen or so Japanese fans who were like groupies and followed us around.
“Then one day Yuriko and Keiko turned up in England. I invited them around to meet Irene and we all became friends.
“They’d come over for Christmas and when Simon was little he must have thought that Japanese visitors were part of the package.”
Wilko is seeringly honest about his past, admitting he and Yuriko were lovers while he was married.
Asked if he and Irene had an open marriage he says: “It was one door, not two. You know how these things go with rock and roll.
“Irene knew I had a London flat in the 70s where I would take girlfriends. When I started getting rich and famous there were plenty of women... dozens, not hundreds.” But despite his betrayal, Wilko’s heart always belonged to his wife.
“She knew she was the one. I would never bulls**t anyone and tell them I would divorce Irene because that would never happen.
“If Irene told me to get rid of any of them I would. Some of those girls were very lively and could cause a bit of trouble.”
Wilko was devastated when Irene died aged 56. Subsequent relationships never worked out because he was still heartbroken.
But when he met Yuriko again in the summer of 2013 she insisted on nursing him until his dying day.
He says: “She knew I was sick and said she wanted to come back to Britain to look after me. She came here and I didn’t die. When I had my operation she was there every day. I was weak, so weak but she made me get out of bed and shuffle on round the block.
“By then I’d kind of got used to having her around and depended on her.”
Yuriko was forced to return to Tokyo last year after twice renewing her visitor’s visa. The couple have fought for permanent access but have been told it’s virtually impossible unless they marry.
But Wilko, who admits he doesn’t like to be alone, says: “I’d never marry again, I couldn’t.
“I was with Irene for 40 years and I couldn’t marry someone else. She was an absolute angel, she really was something else.”
Wilko is reluctant to use the word love regarding Yuriko, adding: “I’m 68 and I’m not climbing up balconies with roses in my teeth.
“But we’re companions and we’re romantically involved and it’s good. I’m doing everything I can to get her a permanent visa, I’ve hired expensive lawyers and I’m going to contact my MP.”
Yuriko has now been away from Britain long enough to get another visitor’s visa and should be reunited with Wilko in the next few weeks. For now, he is back doing what he loves best – touring.
“When I get out on the road with the boys I feel alive again,” he says.
But despite the “elation” cancer brought he admits he is scared of falling ill again.
“The idea of it returning is terrifying,” he says.
“But I’m here, I’m alive and I’m making the best of my life. I’ve been given a second chance and I’m making it count.”
Wilko’s autobiography Don’t You Leave Me Here is published by Little, Brown Books on May 26, priced £18.99
