Chris Rea suffers "major bouts of depression" after battling cancer.
The 66-year-old singer was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001, and had both his duodendum – a section of the small intestine – and pancreas removed, leaving him with diabetes and a cocktail of medication to take every day, and he admits he gets "terribly emotional" thinking about the fact his body will never be the same.
He said: "I’m terribly emotional about the things that go wrong with my body. And especially since I lost my pancreas. I still get major bouts of depression about never being the same again. And I can’t switch that bit off. It would be great if I could.
"To say that losing your pancreas is a sad thing is not an overstatement. They had to take my pancreas away, my duodenum, and it’s damaged for ever.
"There’s two ways you look at it. They all say, ‘You’re lucky to be alive, Mr Rea’. so you either accept that or you think, ‘I’m never going to be what I used to be. I’m never going to be able to eat what I used to eat’. You have to then just get on with it."
The ‘Road to Hell’ hitmaker suffered a stroke almost 12 months ago and he’s worried about how the after-effects will impact on his performances.
He explained to the Sunday Express newspaper: "I had the stroke last year. It’s left me with bad balance. We’re wondering about what we’re going to do when we’re on tour.
"So I don’t wobble over and everyone thinks I’m drunk."
But asked if he’d perform sitting down, he said: "No! You can’t do that. I’d rather give up than do that."
Chris – who has daughters Josephine and Julia with wife Joan – didn’t even realise he’d had a stroke until the following day, as he attributed his symptoms to being drunk.
He recalled: "I was in the pub. I hadn’t got a clue what it was until I went to see the GP the next day.
"I felt like maybe I’d had a bit too much to drink. I was thinking, ‘Gosh, I used to drink a lot more beer than that.’
"The GP gave me balance and coordination tests and he said, ‘Hospital straight away. You’ve had a stroke’.
"Oh my God, I was so scared! I was so scared.
"I then started physiotherapy. These two fingers are giving me grief still because I’m a guitarist.
"This arm is a bit… not as good as it used to be. This one’s a funny one, I feel as if someone’s put a tight elastic band around my ankle. It’s just nerve damage. Thankfully that’s all that’s left now."
And the ‘Let’s Dance’ hitmaker admitted he worries people will think he looks like a "drug addict" when they notice he can be unsteady on his feet.
He added: "It’s just the balance. It’s not so bad now, you didn’t notice did you?’
"The first time I came into the record company a couple of weeks ago, I was really getting anxious because I was wondering if anyone noticed, I wondered if they’d think there was something wrong with me. Am I a drug addict?"
Chris Rea’s depression over health
