Elton John revealed he was just 24 hours from death as he made a brave sacrifice for his family. The Rocket Man singer, 76, who made his Glastonbury debut on Sunday, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017.
As reported by the Mirror, instead of undergoing gruelling chemotherapy to tackle the disease, Elton opted to have surgery, as he didn’t want cancer “hanging over” his loved ones. He and husband David Furnish's two sons, Zachary and Elijah, were aged just 6 and 4 at the time of the diagnosis.
The hitmaker documented his terrifying health scare in his memoir, Me - and while the operation in Los Angeles was a “complete success”, he began to have serious side effects just 10 days after the op. He “noticed something wasn’t right” when arriving in Las Vegas for a gig at Caesars Palace - and the pain progressed throughout the day, forcing him to wear a “giant nappy” on stage as he still wasn’t feeling well.
He quipped: “I don’t know if you’ve ever stood in front of 4,000 cheering fans, singing Candle In The Wind while literally p***ing yourself, but if you haven’t, I can tell you for a fact it’s quite an odd experience.”
However, his condition became more serious, and Elton was rushed to hospital where he feared he was “going to die” after doctors discovered he had a rare complication from his prostate cancer operation. The music icon was left alone in hospital, terrified and he began praying for his life to be spared.
He wrote: “In the hospital, alone at the dead of night, I’d prayed: please don’t let me die, please let me see my kids again, please give me a little longer.”
The Tiny Dancer singer, who is currently on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, said his recovery following his operation and near-death experience helped him heal, mentally and physically. He said: “In a strange way, it felt like the time I spent recuperating was the answer to my prayers: if you want more time, you need to learn to live like this, you have to slow down.”
Elton said it was this health scare that prompted him to announce his retirement. He added: “It was like being shown a different life, a life I realised I loved more than being on the road.
“Music was the most wonderful thing, but it still didn’t sound as good as Zachary chattering about what had happened at Cubs or football practice.”
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