Rocker’s secret five-year battle: ‘Only had six months to live’

Noddy Holder, 77, was told he only had six months to live after a secret throat cancer diagnosis five years ago.

In a piece written for Cheshire Life magazine the Slade star’s wife Suzan Price revealed he was given the dire news after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2018.

“Five years ago we were given the devastating news that he had oesophageal cancer and only had six months to live,” she wrote.

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According to the Cancer Council, oesophageal cancer is slow-growing, tends to be detected in the advanced stages of growth and is not common.

“I’m sorry if that comes as a bit of a shock; it came as a total bombshell to us too,” Price continued in her column.

“We coped with it the only way we could, by hunkering down, sticking together and doing everything we could to survive it.”

Holder and Price have been married for almost two decades after tying the knot in 2004, and share their biological son Django Holder, and daughters Jessica and Charisse from the musician’s previous marriage.

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Writing in the column, Price revealed that the pair told only “immediate close family and friends” about the diagnosis.

The frontman’s wife said a heartfelt apology to those they confided and were “forced to suffer pain and anguish alongside us as we attempted to navigate our way through this new and horrifying world.”

According to Price, Holder has started a “brand-new trial of intense chemotherapy” at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, which has been working.

While she said there were “no guarantees” that the chemotherapy drug would be effective, she confirmed the frontman “responded well” and is now “feeling good”. 

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“As anyone who has received a cancer diagnosis will know, the experts never like to use the word “cure”, but here we are five years later and he’s feeling good and looking great,” she shared the optimistic update.

Price was also quick to praise her husband’s “positive mental attitude” through his health struggles, writing that she has been “completely in awe” of him.

Holder played guitar for the rock band Slade from the ’60s through to the early ’90s and is responsible for hits including Far Far Away, Everyday and Get Down With It.

The guitar player has last been performing shows in the UK in July, 2023.

   

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