Game of Thrones Star Wilko Johnson Says He's Been ''Cured'' of Terminal Cancer

Actor had opted out of chemotherapy

By Lily Harrison Oct 22, 2014 7:53 PMTags
Wilko JohnsonDave J Hogan/Getty Images

After being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in early 2013, Wilko Johnson says that doctors have "cured" him.

The 67-year-old was originally given just a few months to live and chose to opt out of chemotherapy.

But after a massive surgery to remove a tumor this year, the actor and former Dr. Feelgood guitarist says that he no longer has cancer.

"It was an 11-hour operation," he explained to BBC News at the Q Awards in London. "This tumor [was] the size of a baby. Anyway, they got it all. They cured me."

The Game of Thrones actor admitted that he thought that his farewell tour last year "was going to be the last thing I ever did" before going to see a cancer specialist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.

He shared that doctors found a rare form of tumor and operated in April.

"I was absolutely convinced that this thing would kill me," he said. "I accepted it. I didn't lose a minute's sleep about that."

He added it took him roughly a year before he was "calmly accepting the idea that I was going to die."

But now, he admits, his life has an entirely different outlook following the successful operation.

"[Doctors] were saying they could get rid of the tumor, and that's what they did. And it's gone. And I don't have cancer."

Johnson added, "It's so weird and strange that it's kind of hard to come to terms with it in my mind. Now, I'm spending my time gradually coming to terms with the idea that my death is not imminent, that I am going to live on."