Charlie Watts: You get cancer and waste away and die – star s health battle before death
Watts joined the band in 1963, a year after its first inception.
Charlie Watts: ‘No one saw this coming’ – star’s health before death explained
On August 24 2021, Charlie Watts died peacefully in a London hospital at the age of 80, according to his publicist Bernard Doherty, speaking with PA Media. Before his death, Watts had to pull out of a planned, 13-stop tour around the US due to a medical procedure that wasn’t specified publicly. The star’s cause of death remains unknown.
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A spokesperson said about his pull away from the tour: “Charlie has had a procedure which was completely successful, but I gather his doctors this week concluded that he now needs proper rest and recuperation.
“With rehearsals starting in a couple of weeks it’s very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming.
Charlie Watts joined The Rolling Stones in 1963 (Image: Getty Images)
Watts joined the band in 1963, a year after its first inception.
For months after The Rolling Stones started, the band were reportedly desperate to bring Watts in but at first he was reluctant to – on the basis that he needed “regular gigs”.
But after not long, the legend started attending band rehearsals, marking the start of his epic decades-long journey with the band.
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Charlie Watts’ past health battle
Shortly after his death, searches in Google for symptoms of throat cancer started trending.
People most likely wanted to know if the star’s death might have been related to the condition — which he had back in 2004. There is nothing to suggest that it was.
That year, doctors had found a benign tumour that Watts said had “tiny cancer cells on it”.
Around that time, Watts said: “I thought I was going to die I thought that’s what you did.“You get cancer and waste away and die.”
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Charlie Watts sadly died in August last year from unspecified causes (Image: Getty Images)
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Medical professionals would go on to perform two surgeries to take his lymph nodes out, which left the star without use of his arms.
Watts said back in 2005, after having beaten cancer the previous year: “When they [take out the lymph nodes], the muscles go.
“Then you sit around for eight weeks in treatment. You can’t lift your arm. It’s like being paralysed. It was a worry, because of what I do for a living.
“We’ve got a tour, and I didn’t know if I could get through a song. You can’t stop once you get going, if you’re a drummer… I didn’t know if I could make it… but it’s amazing how quickly your body heals.”
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Charlie Watts appearing on screen at a recent Rolling Stones show in Brussels (Image: Getty Images)
Talking about the death of Charlie Watts last month to The Mirror, Rolling Stones co-star Keith Richards said: “I am still dealing with it. Charlie was the engine. The best drummer England has produced.
“People like Charlie Watts are very hard to put in a pocket. They don’t make pockets for people like Charlie. He is a totally unique guy.”
Throat cancer is a general term that isn’t used by UK health professionals, according to the charity Cancer Research UK.
But the Mayo Clinic explains it refers to cancer developing in the pharynx or the voice box.
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Charlie Watts: ‘You get cancer and waste away and die’ – star’s health battle before death
Once labelled as the “greatest drummer of his generation” due to his skills as a musician, Watts’ death was confirmed by his publicist on August 24 in a statement that revealed he had passed away peacefully in a London hospital, surrounded by his family. Although the exact cause of the star’s death was never revealed, shortly before his passing Watts was forced to pull out of the band’s US tour after undergoing emergency surgery. Again the medical procedure was unspecified but it left the rock star needing to take some time to fully recover. In the aftermath of the star’s death there was an increase in searches regarding symptoms of throat cancer, which the star battled back in 2004.
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In a throwback interview Watts recalled the moments after his diagnosis he shared: “It was benign, but [the doctor] said we should take it out. On the slide, it had tiny cancer cells on it.
“He said, ‘You have cancer of the whatever.’ And that night I thought I was going to die. I thought that’s what you did.
“You get cancer and waste away and die.”
After being diagnosed the star had two surgeries, the second in order to take cancer-affected lymph nodes out.
Charlie Watts: The drummer passed away in August 2021, the cause was never released (Image: Getty)
He continued to say: “When they [take out the lymph nodes], the muscles go,” he said in 2005, a year after beating cancer.
“Then you sit around for eight weeks in treatment. You can’t lift your arm. It’s like being paralysed. It was a worry, because of what I do for a living.
“We’ve got a tour, and I didn’t know if I could get through a song. You can’t stop once you get going, if you’re a drummer… I didn’t know if I could make it… but it’s amazing how quickly your body heals.”
From feeling on the brink of death to going into remission a year after having surgery and subsequent chemotherapy, it cannot be said that throat cancer was the cause of Watts death.
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However, for many diagnosed with throat cancer this is not the case. Cancer Research UK explains that there are several different parts of the throat that can become cancerous so throat cancer is an umbrella term for cancer of the general area.
Throat cancers could be in one of two main areas that doctors call the:
- Pharynx – a passage that makes sure food and drink go in one direction (down the food pipe) and air goes in the other (up and down the windpipe).
- Head and neck – cancers that start in the head and neck area (for example, the tongue, the nose, voice box or thyroid gland).
The leading UK-based charity explains that symptoms of throat cancer are often similar to other much less serious conditions, sometimes making it difficult for cancer to be caught in its early stages.
For example, common symptoms of throat cancer include:
- Ear pain
- A sore throat
- A lump in the neck
- Difficulty swallowing
- Change in your voice or speech
- Unexplained weight loss
- A cough
- Shortness of breath
- A feeling of something stuck in the throat.
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Members of the Rolling Stones with Charlie Watts [far right] (Image: Getty)
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Due to these symptoms also being connected to other more common illnesses such as throat infections or a common cold, individuals are urged by the NHS to seek their GP’s opinion if they notice any new signs and symptoms that are persistent.
Although it is not clear why throat cell mutations happen in the first place, certain lifestyle factors have been identified to increase an individual’s risk of throat cancer.
These include the following:
- Tobacco use, including smoking and chewing tobacco
- Excessive alcohol use
- Viral infections, including human papillomavirus (HPV) and Epstein-Barr virus
- A diet lacking in fruits and vegetables
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- Exposure to toxic substances at work.
Many people remain unaware that HPV can cause cancer or assume that it can only cause cervical cancer, but in reality it can cause a handful of cancers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recent studies have indicated that as many as 60-70 percent of throat cancers may be linked to HPV – or caused by a combination of HPV, alcohol and tobacco.
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Throat cancer: The condition causes a sore throat and difficulty swallowing (Image: Getty)
Dr. Jessica Geiger, a medical oncologist at Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, also commented in the past about this “difficult disease”.
She said: “There are no screening guidelines to screen for throat cancer. There are no standard tests to determine if you harbour the virus.”
Once diagnosed, throat cancer is typically treated with a combination of radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted cancer medicines. If diagnosed early enough, radiotherapy or surgery can be used to remove all cancerous cells and cure the condition completely.
For individuals whose cancer has spread to the lymph nodes a procedure known as neck dissection is used. For larger tumours surgery to remove whole parts of the throat may be needed. For example it may be necessary to remove an individual’s entire voice box. During this surgery the windpipe is then attached to a hole (stoma) in the throat to allow the person to breathe (tracheotomy).
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