Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor has said he is now ‘asymptomatic’ amid his battle with prostate cancer, having previously been classified as requiring ‘palliative care at the end of life’.
The ex-Duran Duran guitarist, 62, was diagnosed with incurable stage four metastatic prostate cancer in 2018, and publicly revealed the shocking news last November.
However, in a new interview, Andy shared a dramatic turnaround in his health after undergoing a groundbreaking treatment, which came about after a doctor told him about another treatment option that specifically targets cancer cells.
Detailing his experience with The timesAndy told how he underwent a round of this medical intervention, which involved the administration of radioactive chemicals intravenously, by scientist Christopher Evans, whom he called the “Elon Musk of cancer.”
The publication reports that the rocker was “radioactive for several days” and cannot sleep in the same room as anyone else or travel on public transport.
Update: Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor has been told he is now ‘asymptomatic’ amid his battle with prostate cancer, having previously been classified as requiring ‘palliative care at the end of life’
Health struggles: The ex-Duran Duran guitarist, 62, was diagnosed with stage four incurable, metastatic prostate cancer in 2018, leading to the shocking news being publicly revealed in November last year
And Andy gave a post-treatment update, saying, “I was classified as end-of-life palliative care… and now I’m not; I’m asymptomatic.’
Andy has had one round of treatment so far and will have five more rounds, six weeks apart.
Despite the now positive outlook, Andy recalled being at a very low point after he was first diagnosed, with limited options at the time with “nothing to keep you alive.”
He said: ‘The nadir is maybe six weeks after the diagnosis, when it really sinks in. You will have to say goodbye to your family. You’re not going to live to see your grandson’s tenth birthday. Psychologically, it’s mind-boggling: you can’t get therapy to take away the certainty of death.’
Andy also shared how he refused chemotherapy because he didn’t want to damage the nerves in his hands because he was a guitar player.
While he kept his illness a secret for years for the sake of his adult children, explaining that he wanted them to “go through life without anyone constantly asking about my health.”
Andy’s frightening diagnosis was finally revealed publicly (and to his bandmates) in a letter read by Simon Le Bon at Duran Duran’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction in November, which Andy was too ill to attend.
Andy praised Simon’s delivery of the news, adding that it takes a person with a “very special quality from his heart” to read the letter without dropping a word.
Treatment: In a new interview, Andy shared a dramatic turnaround in his health after undergoing a groundbreaking treatment, which came about after a doctor told him about another treatment option that specifically targeted cancer cells (pictured in 2003)
Help: Andy shared how he underwent a round of this medical intervention, which involves the administration of radioactive chemicals intravenously, by scientist Christopher Evans, whom he called the “Elon Musk of cancer”
Good news: Andy gave a post-treatment update, saying, “I was classified as end-of-life palliative care… and now I’m not; I’m asymptomatic’
The rocker also confirmed that he would not be joining the band again.
It comes after Andy gave a rare health update to BBC Breakfast viewers earlier this month, saying ‘Cancer just drags you and your family into the darkness’.
The guitarist who announced last year that he had been diagnosed with incurable stage four metastatic prostate cancer revealed that he is in “very good shape” to undergo treatment.
The hitmaker admitted that he hates being a “stuck patient” and wants to be a “working patient” to get out and about.
Speaking to Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt, Andy explained, “I had to get in really good shape to get this treatment, so I really took care of myself in a different way.
“And after the first round of treatment I said, ‘If I’m fine and you guys say I’m fine and you do your blood tests and that, is it okay to go back to work? out?”
Update: It comes after Andy gave a rare health update to BBC Breakfast viewers earlier this month, saying ‘Cancer just drags you and your family into the darkness’
“I don’t want to be a patient stuck here, I want to be a working patient. A little beacon of hope, because this stuff just drags you… cancer just drags you into the darkness and your family, and I can work as a patient.”
It comes after Andy revealed he hopes to undergo “nuclear therapy” after being diagnosed with incurable prostate cancer.
The guitarist said he didn’t expect to live long, now expecting to be fully fit again after being offered the life-saving treatment.
Taylor, who left Duran Duran in 2006, told the Rockonteurs podcast, “I’m starting my nuclear therapy. I’ve had tests and scans and all sorts of distant scientific stuff.
‘I also have a wonky gene, which was another surprise, but what it is, it’s a nuclear drug, so at the stage I’m in, which was stage four, really, this therapy came to Britain. only recently. It’s very, very new.’
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‘I don’t want to be a patient trapped here, I want to be a working patient’: The ex-Duran Duran guitarist, 62, revealed he is in ‘very good shape’ to undergo treatment
Opening: Speaking to presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt, Andy explained: ‘I had to get in really good shape to get this treatment, so I really took care of myself in a different way’
He explained that the “new” drug could help him return to “full fitness” for at least “five years.”
He continued, “And essentially it’s a nuclear drug. It’s put in your body and it detects the cancer on the outside of the cells and it just hits the cancer cells in your bones, where it’s mostly in me, and destroys them. But if there is a healthy cell next to it, it will not touch it.
“So it’s not curative, but it can drop out and then it has to start over and from what was a little bit — I won’t even say the term they used to have on it — but I can get back to full fitness.” I’m fine for five years.
‘The band was great. We have a lot of things that we’ve been working on under the radar. The solo album, I thought it was my last album, so it kind of changed there.”