Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch Sends Cancer Treatment Update To Fans
The Beastie Boys’ ailing Adam “MCA” Yauch has sent an email to fans on the group’s mailing list updating them on his condition and assuring them that “things are moving along.”
Yauch announced on July 20 that doctors had found a cancerous tumor in his left salivary gland, as well as a lymph node in the same area. The Beasties subsequently postponed the planned Sept. 15 release of their new album, “Hot Sauce Committee Part 1,” and canceled all scheduled live performances, including festival dates at All Points West in New York, Chicago’s Lollapalooza, Outside Lands in San Francisco, Osheaga in Montreal and Austin City Limits in Texas.
In the new note Yauch wrote that he’s “rapidly recovering” from surgery to remove the cancer that took place about a week and a half ago and returned home after just one night in the hospital “to relax, have home cooked food and hang out with the family.” Yauch said he’s also been avoiding pain medications which would slow his healing. He’s now preparing for “the next line of treatment,” which will be a seven-week course of radiation that should start “in a few weeks.”
Yauch said he heard about or watched on YouTube the various tributes paid to him during last weekend’s All Points West, including Coldplay’s Chris Martin playing a solo piano version of “(You’ve Got to) Fight For Your Right (to Party)” and Jay-Z busting a bit of “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” “Good shit,” Yauch wrote, “and I heard Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) wore a “get well MCA” armband, and that Q-Tip gave a shout out too…Very kind of them.”
Yauch concluded that he “just wanted to thank them and everyone else who sent positive thoughts my way. I do think that all of the well wishes have contributed to the fact that my treatment and recovery are going well. Much love back at all of you!”
Yauch’s initial message revealing the cancer said that doctors had caught it early, but there’s been no official word on how advanced the disease is. Yauch did not say when he planned to update fans again.
The full text of Yaunch’s note reads:
hey all,
hope you are doing well.
so i’m about a week and a half out of surgery now and rapidly recovering from it. i haven’t taken any of the pain meds, which supposedly speeds along the healing process, or should i say, taking them slows it down. anyway, i spent 1 night at the hospital after the surgery. the hospital was too crazy to get any rest so i headed home to relax, have home cooked food and hang out with the family.
i’m pretty well detoxed from the anesthesia that they pumped me up with to keep me under for all that time. that took several days to get out of my system. my neck and jaw are still pretty stiff from the surgery, but it gets better everyday. had the stitches out this past monday… so things are moving along.
but no sooner am i on the mend from this first torture than are they lining up the next one. the next line of treatment will be radiation. that involves blasting you with some kind of beam for a few minutes a day, 5 days a week, for about 7 weeks. that will start in a few weeks…
saw the jay-z cover of no sleep, and the coldplay one of fight for your right from APW on youtube. good shit. and i heard karen o wore a “get well MCA” armband, and that q-tip gave a shout out too….. very kind of them.
just wanted to thank them and everyone else who sent positive thoughts my way. i do think that all of the well wishes have contributed to the fact that my treatment and recovery are going well.
much love back at all of you!
adam
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