According to a story from MSN, 73 year old Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones recently discussed in an interview his struggle with small cell lung cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic. This news follows a previous bout of lung cancer that he dealt with in 2017. Ronnie said that his disease was treated with surgery and as of now his case should be resolved.

About Small Cell Lung Cancer

Small cell lung cancer is an aggressive type of lung cancer that is responsible for only about 10 to 15 percent of lung cancer cases. Lung cancer as a whole is not considered rare, but small cell lung cancer is. While smoking tobacco is a risk factor for lung cancers of all types, the connection between smoking and small cell carcinoma is particularly strong. In fact, it appears almost exclusively in people who have smoked. That being said, it is still possible for people who were never regular smokers to get it. Symptoms of this cancer include chest pain, coughing up blood, weight loss, and shortness of breath. This cancer metastasizes rapidly and most patients are diagnosed when this process has already begun. This cancer relapses easily and the five year survival rate is meager at just 20 percent and is even lower for metastatic disease. To learn more about small cell lung cancer, click here.

Staving Off Cancer

Ronnie’s bouts with lung cancer, and small cell lung cancer in particular, can likely be traced to his smoking habit from years past. He says that he smoked a staggering 25 to 30 cigarettes daily for a period lasting 54 years by his reckoning. Ronnie says that trusting the outcomes to a higher power has a made a real difference:

“All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power.”

While Ronnie has lived an intense and risky lifestyle in the past, his wife Sally says that those days are thoroughly in the rearview mirror now:

“Ronnie’s very focused on his health, which compared to his past is a massive turnaround. He doesn’t smoke or drink and neither do I.”