It seems unlikely that Motorhead frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister died from cancer just two days after being diagnosed, says a leading oncologist.
The once hard-living rocker died at home Monday. He was 70 and the band said in a statement that he had “a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer,” though as of yet unspecified, that he was diagnosed with on Saturday.
Kilmister also had other serious health problems including diabetes, a hematoma and he was fitted with a defibrillator for an irregular heartbeat.
“It would be extraordinarily rare for [his death] to be related to the cancer,” Dr. Steven Standiford, chief of staff at Cancer Treatment Centers of America Eastern Regional Medical Center, told the News.
Rob BallMotorhead frontman Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister died at 70 in England, two days after being diagnosed with cancer.
“My first thought was he had a new diagnosis of acute leukemia and he had no ability to fight infection,” Standiford said. “The next thing was did he have a prostate cancer he had been ignoring? You can die relatively suddenly of that.”
The most aggressive cancers are the leukemias and lymphomas, he said.
“It is very possible that he had a cancer and did not go to the doctor,” Standiford added. “If it was horribly aggressive and causing the big bad infection, you would think they would have put him in the hospital. He might have decided he would do nothing and go home.”
Still, the standard process — if death were that close — would have been for Kilmister to be in hospice care.
Kilmister, who formed the heavy metal band Motorhead in 1975, reportedly drank a bottle of Jack Daniel’s a day for years. He wrote about “doing the wrong drugs” in his autobiography and had been arrested in Canada for possession of cocaine.
Kilmister could have developed complications from blood thinners, which he may have been on because of the irregular heartbeat, according to Standiford.
Estate Of Keith MorrisMotorhead frontman and bassist Lemmy posing in 1878 with, from left, bandmates guitarist ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor.
A voicemail and email to Kilmister’s reps were not returned.
“This is some great mystery and probably bad timing that he was diagnosed with cancer and goes on and dies,” Standiford said. “I hate to blame cancer with somebody who sounds like he was so darned sick in a million other ways.
“There will be people who hear this and say, ‘Why fight if I am told I have an aggressive cancer?’ This should not take hope away from people who are diagnosed with aggressive cancer.”
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