Famed country singer Toby Keith recently opened up about his now months-long fight with a bout of stomach cancer in an update on his health and tour plans shared by CMT’s “Hot 20 Countdown”, his first time commenting on the illness or his fight with it since a June announcement of his diagnosis.
Speaking on his health in the brief clip shared on social media by CMT, Keith said:
I’m thinking about getting back into fighting shape.
I need a little bit of time to just rest up and heal up.
Continuing, Keith went on to say that “It’s pretty debilitating to have to go through all that. But as long as everything stays hunky-dory, then we’ll look at something good in the future.”
CMT posted the clip with the comment “You heard it here first! @tobykeith has plans to get back on the road after battling cancer 👊 More details on his road to recovery this weekend only on #cmtHot20!”
You heard it here first! @tobykeith has plans to get back on the road after battling cancer 👊 More details on his road to recovery this weekend only on #cmtHot20! pic.twitter.com/3p3Rs5a1XM
— CMT Hot 20 Countdown (@cmtHot20) November 19, 2022
The new of Keith’s cancer diagnosis didn’t break until June of this year, when he posted about it on his Instagram and Twitter accounts. At that time, Keith announced that he was battling the scourge of stomach cancer and that it had been diagnosed months before, posting about the battle with the disease on Instagram and saying:
“Last fall I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I’ve spent the last 6 months receiving chemo, radiation, and surgery. So far, so good. I need time to breathe, recover, and relax.
“I am looking forward to spending this time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later. I can’t wait. -T”
While Keith was able to play at his scheduled concerts up to that point, he did, however, have to cancel many of his planned performance starting with the one at the Ohio State Fair, with 10 WBSN reporting at the time that:
Country music star Toby Keith has canceled his performance at the Ohio State Fair next month after revealing on Sunday that he has been battling cancer for several months.
[…]Keith was scheduled to perform at the Ohio State Fair on July 28. Those who have already purchased tickets from Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded.
State fair organizers say information about an alternate concert on July 28 is forthcoming.
The National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, describing the survival rate of people suffering from stomach cancer if it is localized, notes that:
Cancer stage at diagnosis, which refers to extent of a cancer in the body, determines treatment options and has a strong influence on the length of survival. In general, if the cancer is found only in the part of the body where it started it is localized (sometimes referred to as stage 1). If it has spread to a different part of the body, the stage is regional or distant. The earlier stomach cancer is caught, the better chance a person has of surviving five years after being diagnosed. For stomach cancer, 28.3% are diagnosed at the local stage. The 5-year relative survival for localized stomach cancer is 71.8%.
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