Wilko Johnson: 'I'm free of cancer'

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Wilko Johnson has said he has now been “cured” of the terminal pancreatic cancer with which he was diagnosed in 2012.

The Dr Feelgood guitarist, 67, underwent radical surgery earlier this year in which a tumour was removed along with his pancreas, spleen and part of his stomach.

Accepting the Icon honour at the Q Awards in London, Johnson said: “It was an 11-hour operation. This tumour weighed 3kg - that's the size of a baby. Anyway, they got it all. They cured me.”

The musician paid tribute to his cancer specialist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge. “He runs all the tests again and he says they think that they can do it and they did it, man. They took this tumour out of me.”

Johnson played a series of farewell concerts after making his diagnosis public in January 2013 but continued to be well enough to perform. He recorded a new album with Roger Daltrey which became a top 10 hit.

He said: "Now I'm recuperating and hoping to regain my strength completely soon and go back on the road and the moral of the story is you never know what's going to happen.”

Johnson's operation also involved the removal of his small and large intestines and the removal and reconstruction of blood vessels relating to the liver.