Country Star Provides Update on His Battle with Stomach Cancer: 'You Have to Prepare'
Country music star Toby Keith says he hopes to be back on tour this fall as he continues his nearly two-year battle with stomach cancer, but he knows he is battling an enemy that doesn’t quit.
Keith has undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy in his fight against the disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2021, according to the Oklahoman.
“I’m feeling pretty good. … I’m about another eight weeks from my last scan. So, I expect next time I look for that tumor to be even less — and I’ve only got one that’s shown up,” Keith said in an early June interview.
“Basically, everything is in a real positive trend. You never know with cancer, so you have to prepare,” he said.
He said he has to work up to playing a concert.
“But my goal is, I feel better; I’ve got more wind. And I’m thinking about bringing the band in and setting up, playing two or three days somewhere just to see if I can get through two hours. And if I do, [I’ll] be out on the road this fall.”
Keith said he is undergoing immunotherapy and consulting a nutritionist because he knows cancer doesn’t surrender easily.
“They put oxygen in your blood. They give you high doses of vitamin C and good vitamins and nutrient bag you up to where you feel better. And you can start trying to heal your body,” he said.
“Now, they’re trying to fight where the cancer backs up and says, ‘Oh, you’re fighting that tumor? We’re gonna remorph and turn into this kind of cancer.’ … So, while [the cancer cells] are in the bullpen regrouping, we’re trying to kill ’em with something different,” he said.
Keith says his affection for patriotic music is a part of him.
“I enjoy being that guy. I was at the Super Bowl for the XFL where Bob Stoops won [the championship], and a soldier was in the next suite. He came over and he’s about to cry. And he said, ‘I saw you three times: once in Iraq and twice in Afghanistan. … Just hearing your voice gives me goose bumps, hearing that real voice, because you are Captain America to us,'” Keith said.
“So yeah, it’s great being associated with … people that mean so much to me — and that I mean so much to them,” he said.
On his Instagram account, he offered his salute to Old Glory on Flag Day.
“Today’s the day we celebrate the stars and stripes…did you know that red, white, and blue were chosen for what they represent? Valor, purity, and justice respectively,” he wrote.
In December, Keith said his cancer battle had been rough.
“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,” he said then, according to Page Six.
But now, he is hoping that day has come, according to the Oklahoman.
“All I got to do is see if I can get through two or three nights of work and get a little break in this chemo, and we’ll go back to work. I’m ready,” he said. “That’s living.”
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