Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor reveals his family find it mind-blowing he is still alive after incurable cancer diagnosis

Duran Duran star Andy Taylor has revealed his family find it mind-blowing that he is still alive amid his battle with cancer.

The rock star, 62, was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in 2018 and was told to prepare for end-of-life care.

Speaking on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2, Andy said doctors have since told him of a new treatment.

He said: ‘I started this a couple months ago, two shots of muclear medicine targeting cancer cells.

‘It didn’t exist five years ago. [It was a case of] “you’ve got five yeares on the clock”. Now, I’ve another five years. So, I’m still… did I doge a bullet?’

Health: Duran Duran star Andy Taylor has revealed his family find it mind-blowing that he is still alive amid his battle with cancer 

Heartbreaking: The rock star, 62, was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in 2018 and was told to prepare for end-of-life care (L-R  Duran Duran’s Roger Taylor, Simon Le Bon, Andy Taylor and John Taylor in 1981)

Andy added he was radioactive after each session and can’t share a bed for three days.

The musician won praise from host Zoe for being so vocal about ‘men getting checked’. 

It comes after Andy told how he’s hoping to undergo ‘nuclear therapy’ after being diagnosed.

The star said that he has gone from not expecting to have long to live to now expecting to get back to full fitness.

Taylor was offered the life-saving treatment after the other members of the band revealed his frightening diagnosis in a letter read out at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction in November.

Andy, who left Duran Duran in 2006, told the Rockonteurs podcast: ‘I’m starting my nuclear therapy. I’ve been having tests and scans and all kinds of far out science stuff.

‘I have got a wonky gene as well, which was another surprise, but what it is, it’s a nuclear medicine, so the stage I’m at, which was stage four like s*** basically, this therapy came into the UK only recently. It’s very, very new.’

He explained the ‘new’ medicine can help him get back to ‘full fitness’ for at least ‘five years’.

Hope: Andy said doctors have since told him of a new treatment. He said: ‘I started this a couple months ago, two shots of muclear medicine targeting cancer cells’ 

He continued: ‘And essentially it’s a nuclear medicine. It’s put into your body and it detects the cancer on the outside of the cells and it only hits cancer cells in your bones, which is mainly where it is with me, and zaps them. But if there’s a healthy cell next to it, it doesn’t touch it.

‘So it’s not curative, but it can knock out and then it’s got to start again and from what was kind of – I’ll not even say the term they used to have on the thing – but I can get back full fitness. I’ll be fine for five years.

‘The band have been great. We’ve got a lot of stuff that we’ve been working on under the radar. The solo album, I thought it was my last album, so that’s kind of where it changed.’

The guitarist said offers of help flooded in after his diagnosis including a letter read aloud by band singer Simon Le Bon at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

He added: ‘After that I got a lot of very, very amazing people got in touch with me from all over the world. 

‘Here’s a chap here called Sir Chris Evans, who took a look at everything for me, and said “No, there’s a lot more we can do for me”. He did my genomics. He’s a genius. He’s a biochemist. Kind of like an Elon Musk of cancer.

He added: ‘It didn’t exist five years ago. [It was a case of] “you’ve got five yeares on the clock”. Now, I’ve another five years. So, I’m still… did I doge a bullet?’

‘And he took a look at it really, really deeply, and looked at the genomics and said “there’s several ways we can help you”.

And the treatment that I’m getting is probably the best. Because I didn’t go (to the induction), I got my life back.

‘I never had chemotherapy, you know what happens with chemo if you’re a guitar player, your fingers can go. 

‘I’ve always been able to use quite sophisticated drugs and stuff but you get to a point where it’s either this treatment or there’s not really anything else that will flush it out.

‘And first thing, whenever I go and see an oncologist or urologist it’s like “Right, we’ve got to protect your fingers”, and I’m like “Great, that’s a good place to start” because it can actually destroy them.’

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