We had started a world tour in the autumn of 2022. It was an exhausting schedule and afterwards I went on holiday. We were about to recommence our tour when I noticed a lump. I didn’t have any symptoms, but the lump got bigger during the 12-week tour and was nagging at me. I finally went to the GP who organised an ultrasound scan. The person carrying out the scan started the appointment in a very upbeat way, asking if I wanted her to talk me through everything. But as soon as the scan started, she went silent and I could tell then that something was wrong.

“That was when the incredibly fast moving train that was treatment started, and it lasted a year.

I had an operation to remove the lump, which was sent off to be biopsied. I recall feeling paralysed with fear while waiting for the test results. The results came back with a diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The band were due to go to South America for three weeks, and it was hard to tell them that I couldn’t go ahead with that leg of the tour. Although I was devastated, suddenly the most important thing for me was to start treatment. I was to have six doses of R-CHOP chemotherapy (a regimen of rituximab with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone, which is a steroid). This was reduced to four rounds of CHOP, followed by two rounds of rituximab alone and then a month later I had methotrexate because of the risk that the lymphoma could spread into my brain.

“I was strangely excited to get on with treatment, although the whole thing seemed unimaginable.

The first round of treatment took 12 hours, as the rituximab was given very slowly so the team could check for any side effects. I felt completely wiped out and awful like I had the worst 10-day hangover but although it was tough, I tolerated it. In fact, I swore I would never drink again and inflict this feeling on myself knowingly! My hair was shoulder length before treatment, but I knew I would lose it, so had it cut short beforehand. Within two weeks of the first R-CHOP, what hair was left had gone, but as it was winter I could wear a hat. The regime includes steroids which come with their own set of problems. My body felt like it was in overdrive; I couldn’t stop eating or talking or feeling angry. At times I also struggled to sleep.

In June 2024, once the treatment had finished, the plan was for me then to go on to have 33 Gy of radiotherapy over 17 days. The machine was intimidating, but the team were lovely and explained everything. I had a tattoo so that they can line up the machine with where it needs to target. The setting up is the thing that takes the time, because the actual radiotherapy lasted only about 18 seconds. It was explained to me that I would get fatigued and that my skin on the site of the radiotherapy would start to flake.

“To begin with radiotherapy felt like a breeze compared to chemotherapy. But it catches up with you.

After a while my skin felt like it was disintegrating. I was given some cream, which helped, but the other thing was the sheer fatigue. I had no energy and needed to have a nap every afternoon. All through treatment I felt really strong and just wanted to push on, knowing that I needed to get through it to get back to a normal life. During this time, I didn’t play the keyboard, because it made me too emotional. I was really frightened that I would develop peripheral neuropathy in my fingers and not be able to play again. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, although I am still experiencing some neuropathy in my feet even now which I think is because of the methotrexate.

The PET scans were clear from the beginning of treatment. The cancer was contained in the lump, which was removed, so it wasn’t a surprise that the end PET was also clear. I feel so grateful to my partner Mimi who has been incredible. I really think that carers are overlooked and can’t imagine how I would have coped without her. I thought things would be completely different when I went back to work with the band. But starting rehearsals again felt like nothing had changed, except that I had short hair. Now back working and looking out at the audience, I find myself extremely emotional.

“I don’t feel like a warrior or a survivor. As someone who loves technology, I know it is the drugs that have put me here. That and the devotion of the wonderful doctors and nurses who cared for me.

Just as I was at the end of treatment and getting on with life, I hit a brick wall. I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and have found having therapy has helped. The band have had an incredible year and we were overwhelmed to have been nominated for three Brit Awards in 2025, 34 years after we last won the award. I am also recording a solo album which is not going to be about cancer, but more a reflection on my life now. Having had lymphoma has made me feel very aware of my own mortality and I feel I have faced my greatest fear. Today what matters to me is having the sun on my back, feeling happy and making other people happy.