Christy Dignam resumes chemotherapy as cancer ‘creeps up again’

Lead singer of Irish rock band Aslan, Christy Dignam, has said he has resumed chemotherapy treatment, because his cancer condition worsened during lockdown.

The musician, who has had a number of health scares in recent years, said he had not been attending hospital because of the coronavirus pandemic, and his health deteriorated as a result.

Mr Dignam was diagnosed with a very rare form of cancer called amyloidosis in 2013.

“I’m back on chemo now, because I wasn’t attending hospital. So, I do go over to London to attend the Royal Free [hospital] over there, so because I wasn’t doing that, the cancer creeps up again and I wasn’t really being monitored,” Mr Dignam told Pj and Jim on Classis Hits FM.

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“I noticed when I was walking, I couldn’t walk that fast and my breath started going, so I rang the consultant and he said hold on and I’ll look at the computer, because I’ve been giving bloods regularly . . . I rang him on the Monday and he said come on in tomorrow at 9 o’clock and when he said that I knew there was something wrong. So they started me on chemo again. That’s my kind of situation at the moment.”

High-risk

Mr Dignam said that he has been in lockdown since the start of February because he would be in the high-risk category if he was to contract coronavirus, also known as Covid-19.

“When I was looking at the list of people that are compromised, I ticked every one of the boxes, so I had to lock down before everybody else. Unless some great therapy comes out or some vaccination, I really don’t know where this thing is going to go, it’s frightening.”

However, the singer, whose band is best known for the song Crazy World, said when gigs are allowed to recommence he would “take the risk” and perform.

“I mean what are you going to do, I’m not going to sit in the gaff for the next 10 years,” he added.