George Harrison blamed his smoking habit for the lung and throat tumours he suffered over the past four years.

George Harrison dies at age 58.Having smoked throughout his youth and Beatles career, he gave up some years ago, only to take up the habit again before finally quitting in 1997. His health problems began that year when he noticed a lump in his neck and was diagnosed with throat cancer. Doctors at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Windsor operated to remove the cancerous lump and Harrison also underwent two bouts of radiation therapy at the world-renowned Royal Marsden Hospital in London. At the time, he said: "I got it purely from smoking. Luckily for me, they found that this was more of a warning than anything else. I'm not going to die on you folks just yet - I am very lucky." But the cancer scare prompted the former Beatle to go for annual check-ups at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, US, where he knew one of the doctors. It was at one of these check-ups, in March of this year, that doctors found a large cancerous growth on his lung. A statement released afterwards said the operation at the Mayo Clinic had been successful and Harrison had made an excellent recovery. The statement said: "He is in the best of spirits and on top form - the most relaxed and free since the attack on him in 1999." The statement, released with photographs of him enjoying a holiday in Italy with his wife Olivia, urged people "not to worry". But within months reports began to emerge about him receiving further treatment, first in Switzerland then in the US. He was recently reported to have been in a "very frail" state at the Staten Island University Hospital in New York as he underwent revolutionary cancer surgery by Dr Gil Lederman. Dr Lederman offers a technique known as sterotactic radiosurgery, a procedure which attacks tumours with high doses of radiation. It is for patients with large and advanced tumours. Harrison had almost died in 1999 when he was stabbed by an intruder at his Oxfordshire mansion. He suffered a punctured lung during the attack, although doctors said the injury would in no way have contributed to the recurrence of the disease. Experts said the growths in his lung could have spread from his throat or may have been an entirely new disease, again caused by his smoking habit. Harrison was lucky in that the growth was spotted early and doctors were able to operate to remove it. Only 10% of lung cancer patients are eligible for surgery and less than one in 10 people who suffer from the disease survive for more than five years after diagnosis. Even among those who are eligible for surgery, only a third survive for more than five years, with the constant possibility that the cancer could spread to other parts of the body.

<< Prev	CIGoutlet.NET News Home	Next >>