Penny: my tears for rod
Penny Lancaster breaks down as she tells of rocker’s cancer ordeal
It came on quickly. It was like, ‘We can’t ignore this’
PENNY ON MOMENT SIR ROD WAS DIAGNOSED
SIR Rod Stewart faced an agonising wait to see if his prostate cancer had spread to other organs, wife Penny revealed yesterday.
The disease was already in the tissues around the gland and if it had gone further could have reduced his survival chances. Luckily, it had not.
But Penny wept as she told of the shocking moment her husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and the gruelling battle against it.
And 74-year-old Rod again urged men to get themselves checked out for the disease, which kills more than 11,000 males a year.
It comes after the Record revealed last month the singer was given the all-clear in July. Loose Women star Penny, 48, said on the ITV show: “Rod had a few symptoms.
“He went in and had his PSA tested. It was slightly elevated, but they said let’s just monitor it. It started moving quite quickly, the results, the numbers. So they said, ‘We best do a rectal exam’. For men, it’s awkward, but it’s the only way.
“And they did find a lump. Then it was like, ‘Right, OK, we can’t ignore this’. The doctors recommended a biopsy.
“We got the shock news it was cancer. It came on really quickly. With Rod it was an aggressive one. Instead of remaining in the gland, it travelled to the outside tissues. So that was another scary moment where we had to have more invasive tests and scans to see if it was anywhere else as a secondary in his body, which was the most frightening test of all. But it hadn’t gone further.
“It’s emotional. We kept it quiet for two and a half years now. The positive news is we caught it early enough.”
Penny told how the couple looked into treatments, which included having the prostate removed, chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
But because Rod’s cancer had spread locally, it was not possible to have the gland cut out. Penny said he had a three-month course of intensive daily radiation in London.
He even joked about being a commuter. She added: “Rod and I were travelling into London at the same time every single day.
“Rod’s never done one day, one week the same ever. He put his positive head on, along with myself. The nurses had a little room for him. He set up his computer, he said this was like my day in the office. Extremely positive.
“In July he got the all-clear, there’s no trace at all. That’s really exciting news.
“Things are fantastic. There’s no slowing him down.”
Rod said in a video message on the show from New York: “I’ve just been given the OK. Guys, please, get tested. It’s a rotten disease. It gives you no warnings, no symptoms. Finger up the bum, no harm done.” Penny revealed the couple chose not tell their two children Alastair, 13, and Aiden, eight, about the cancer until he was given the all-clear. Rod, who has six other children from previous relationships, revealed he had beaten the disease when he spoke at a charity gig for the Prostate Project at the Wentworth Club in Surrey in front of 500 people. He performed with former Faces bandmates Ronnie Wood, who survived lung cancer, and Kenney Jones. He told the crowd: “The Lord looked after me.”