The Cure’s Roger O’Donnell reveals lymphoma diagnosis: ‘Very rare and aggressive’

The Cure’s keyboardist Roger O’Donnell was diagnosed with cancer the previous year.

The British musician, 68, announced on Sunday that a biopsy in September 2023 revealed he has “a very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma.”

In a post on Instagram on the first day of Blood Cancer Awareness Month, O’Donnell said she “ignored the symptoms for a few months” before receiving the “devastating” diagnosis.

“I have now completed 11 months of treatment under some of the best specialists in the world and had second opinions and advice from the teams who developed the drugs I was given,” O’Donnell said. “I had the benefit of the latest sci-fi immunotherapy and some drugs that were first used over 100 years ago. The final stage of treatment was radiotherapy which was one of the first treatments developed against cancer.”

“I’m fine and the prognosis is amazing,” he said. “The crazy axe murderer knocked on the door and we didn’t answer.”

O’Donnell added: “Cancer is beatable, but you have a better chance if you catch it early, so all I want to say is get tested, if you think you have the symptoms then go and get tested. Finally, if you know someone who is sick or suffering, talk to them, every single word helps, believe me I know that.”

He thanked his “rockstar” doctors, nurses and technicians, as well as his family, friends and his partner Mimi.

“Sometimes it’s hard to stay out of it…” he concluded his post.

In a second post, O’Donnell shared a black-and-white photo of herself, writing, “Hair not our choice hahaha.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that causes symptoms like fever, night sweats, fatigue, itchy skin, swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, etc.

Types of treatment include chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, and CAR-T cell therapy.

Last year, O’Donnell dropped out of The Cure’s Latin American tour due to “health reasons” that were not clear at the time.

“We’re sure you’ll join us in wishing him a speedy recovery,” the band said in a statement.

O’Donnell joined The Cure in 1987, nine years after the band’s formation.

He left the group in 1990, then again in 2005, and rejoined in 2011.

O’Donnell has also released several solo albums, her most recent being 2022’s “7 Different Words for Love”.