Wilko Johnson, who has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, did a recent interview with Reuters in which the Dr. Feelgood ex-guitarist says cancer makes him feel alive. In the interview, which was posted Feb. 4, he says
"It makes you feel so alive," he said. "Just walking down the street, man, everything looks really intense. Any little thing you look at, it almost gives you a kind of childlike consciousness.
"I'm a miserable so-and-so. I suffer from depression and everything ... but all that stuff whatever it was I used to worry about - it doesn't matter. What's gone, what is and what will be, do not matter."
Johnson explained that he knows his time on this earth is limited and he has rejected chemotherapy, which just might give him a few extra months of life. His explanation behind the rejection was that he prefers to live the last months of his life without having to suffer the painful side effects of chemotherapy.
In February, Johnson has concerts scheduled in France and four nights in Sheffield, to be followed in March by a small farewell tour of the UK. When asked how his health might be a factor in the upcoming events, he says,
"I'm not going on stage sick. I'm not going to have someone pushing me around in a wheelchair. They'd have to push fast."
Eight years ago, Johnson lost his wife, Irene, due to cancer and in January it was revealed that the cult musician will also die from cancer. An emotional Johnson admitted to BBC,
"I'm still prone to burst into tears thinking about it, but I've never come anywhere close to that to think of myself.
This position I'm in is so strange, in that I do feel fit and yet I know death is upon me.
I'm not hoping for a miracle cure or anything. I just hope it spares me long enough to do these gigs - then I'll be a happy man."
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