Ron Wood gets 'all-clear' after second treatment for cancer

Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood says he has successfully battled cancer for a second time.

"I've had cancer two different ways now," the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, 73, told the U.K. tabloid The Sun in an interview published Sunday. "I had lung cancer in 2017 and I had small-cell more recently that I fought in the last [pandemic] lockdown" in his native England.

Small-cell cancer refers to a type of the potentially fatal disease in which the cancer cells are smaller than normal cells, according to the Mayo Clinic. Small-cell cancer can strike the lungs, prostate, pancreas and elsewhere.

"I came through with the all-clear," Wood said, attributing his recovery to the "higher power" that is a tenet of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. In his younger days, Wood lived an archetypal rock lifestyle that included drug abuse and multiple stays in rehab.

"I'm going through a lot of problems now," he told the newspaper, "but throughout my recovery, you have to let it go. And when you hand the outcome over to your higher power, that is a magic thing. … What will be will be, it's nothing to do with me. All I can do is stay positive in my attitude, be strong and fight it, and the rest is up to my higher power."

In August 2017, Wood told another U.K. tabloid, the Daily Mail, that he recently had undergone successful surgery for lung cancer. After the procedure to remove the cancerous tissue, he said, "I'm OK now," adding: "They caught it early. … I've always had a very strong guardian angel looking out for me. By rights I shouldn't be here."

On Monday, Wood announced on his website that he had painted a signed-and-numbered print, "Affirmation 1," to help fundraise for the addiction-treatment organizations Crossroads Centre Antigua, founded by fellow legendary guitarist Eric Clapton, and Turn Up for Recovery, founded by Clapton's wife, Melia.