Chris Foreman, the longtime guitarist for English ska and pop band Madness, has revealed he’s been diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma.
The 69-year-old father of four shared the shocking health news on Friday.
“Earlier this year, I had severe pain in my upper back and shoulders,” he wrote on Facebook, explaining that he went in for an MRI at the end of June and learned he had a tumor on his spine.
Foreman said he underwent “all sorts of stuff,” including radiotherapy to “blast” the tumor and alleviate the pain.
“I wasn’t in good shape, to say the least,” he added. “My kidneys were only at 14 percent function, which has greatly improved since then.”
Foreman confirmed that his ailments were linked to myeloma, in which cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow and crowd out the healthy blood cells that find and attack germs. According to the Mayo Clinic, complications can include inflections, kidney damage, bone pain and anemia.
“It’s treatable but not curable,” Foreman said, though he reassured his fans that some people live with myeloma “for 20 years or more.”
“When I get it into remission (I will!) I should be able to get back to normal life,” he added. “I have a long way to go before I get back onstage but I aim to be back next year.”
Foreman is one of the founding members of Madness, which was formed in North London in 1976. The influential band, known for hits such as “Our House,” “House of Fun,” and “One Step Beyond,” is scheduled to embark on a multi-city tour across the U.K. later this year.
Foreman confirmed he would not be joining the band on the tour, but again promised his fans that he’ll “be back!”
