Anthony Wilson, the man behind the success of the Happy Mondays, Joy Division and the legendary Hacienda nightclub in Manchester, has revealed he is undergoing treatment for cancer of the kidney.
The former Factory Records boss was diagnosed with the illness at Christmas after suffering flu-like symptoms for several weeks, and has now gone public with the details in an article published in the Manchester Evening News.
In the typically feisty piece, Wilson talks about the process of being diagnosed and when his doctor discovered his right kidney was "completely consumed" with cancer, saying, "I spent November and December working very hard and thinking I had flu. Eventually my partner, Yvette Livesey, forced me to go to the doctor, who spotted the problem and sent me to hospital."
Wilson writes that he felt compelled to chart his experiences not because of "what a big operation I just had" but because he wanted to "write a love letter to the NHS". In the two-part article, Wilson mainly discusses his admiration for the NHS staff who treated him and also describes the costs and procedures of cancer treatment in the NHS.
"Prof Robert explains to Yvette and I that I can have normal chemo, Interferon, but that there is an even better drug that's just come through tests and has proved even better in the short term at combating kidney cancer. But there's a problem, the NHS hasn't approved it yet and you'd have to pay and it's incredibly expensive.
It's called Sutent and costs the individual approximately £3,600 per six-week cycle and God knows how many cycles you'd need."
Salford-born Wilson started his career as a local TV reporter for Granada but is best known for his "Madchester" years, in which he managed the likes of Joy Division and Happy Mondays through his Factory Records label. He is now a prolific radio presenter with his own slots on Xfm Manchester and BBC Radio Manchester.
A range of tributes have been posted on the MEN website in response to the article, leemann from Whalley Range writes, "Sad to hear you're not well, get well soon man, should be a doddle compared to the Happy Mondays!", while another blogger simply states "Tony Wilson verses cancer. No contest. All the best and get well soon!"
http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/sto...13010,00.html?
Factory Records' Tony Wilson Diagnosed with Cancer 
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