Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi will be undergoing some surgery in the near future to have a lump removed. Iommi, who is in remission from stage 3 lymphoma, recently told The Irish Times:
“I went for a check four weeks ago and the doctor said that at the moment there is no activity where I had the cancer before, but there is activity in the throat. When I get back to England, I have to have an operation to remove this thing at the back of my nose. The doctors found a lump there and we don’t know if it is cancer or what, but I feel OK at the moment.”
When asked how his initial cancer diagnosis changed his perspective, he offered:
“I was knocked for six when the doctors told me that it was, that it was stage III cancer. It really did change my life as far as what I have to do now. I have to live what life I’ve got because I have been on the road nearly 50 years. I need to be at home more and I need to pay more attention to my friends and family.”
Later in the chat he was asked about the ugly situation that erupted between the band and Bill Ward, which has seen him sit out the band’s current farewell tour. he said of that:
“It just got silly. He got into a legal battle somewhere with the management and Bill pulled out and he did not come back. It was very difficult. I don’t exactly know what was going on in everybody’s mind at the time, because we started all together, but then it got too involved. I don’t know what Bill thought. It just didn’t happen in the end.
Also, we were also concerned about how Bill was going to play and how he was going to handle things. He had a heart attack and then he had stents put in. It was a difficult time, and then, of course, I came down as ill. It was almost falling apart and we pulled it back together. Bill made his choice not to do it and that was it.”
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