Drumming Through Cancer
- Drummer Lee Kerslake passed away at the age of 73 after a two-year battle with prostate cancer.
- Kerslake collaborated with musician Ozzy Osbourne on two separate albums.
- Ozzy Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002 and in 2012 underwent a preventative mastectomy after learning she was high-risk for breast cancer.
Drummer Lee Kerslake has passed away at the age of 73 after a battle with prostate cancer. He was the drums behind Ozzy Osbourne’s iconic Prince of Darkness albums, and Osbourne has shared a touching tribute in the drummer’s honor.
Kerslake revealed in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and that the cancer had spread throughout his body. However, he kept fighting over the past two years. Kerslake’s bandmate, Ken Hensley, broke the sad news of the drummer’s passing in a statement, sharing that he passed peacefully and credited him as one of the best drummers in Rock history.
Related: Why ‘The Talk’s’ Sharon Osbourne — A Cancer Survivor — Decided to Go Gray (And What She Did to Ozzie After Finding Out About His Affair)
“It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you that Lee Kerslake, my friend of 55 years and the best drummer I ever played with, lost his battle with cancer at 03:30 this morning,” Hensley wrote on his Facebook page. “He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed.”
Kerslake is known as one of the band members of Rock band Uriah Heep, but his discography also includes notable projects with the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. He served as the drummer on some of Osbourne’s iconic music albums including Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Following their collaboration, the two had a serious falling out and didn’t speak to one another for decades, but in 2019 they apparently made up. After news of Kerslake’s passing, Osbourne shared a touching tribute in the drummer’s honor.
The Osbournes’ Brush With Cancer
The Osbournes aren’t strangers to how a cancer diagnosis can impact a family. In 2002, after going 3 years without seeing a doctor, Sharon Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 49. It ended up being Ozzy who pushed Osbourne to visit her physician, and in the end, she’s grateful that she listened to her husband. Once learning about her diagnosis, Osbourne underwent surgery, but after found out that the disease had spread.
Related: 5 Truths Sharon Osbourne Learned From Colon Cancer: ‘After You Get Over the Shock and Panic, You Realize How Lucky You Are to Be Alive’
She went through chemotherapy rounds for treatment, and her cancer journey was prominently featured on her family’s reality television show The Osbournes. The treatment ended up being successful, because she was declared “cancer free.” However, Osbourne’s brush with cancer didn’t stop there. In 2012, Osbourne went through genetic testing and learned she was considered high-risk for developing ovarian or breast cancer, and underwent a preventative double mastectomy to try to avoid a possible breast cancer diagnosis.
Navigating Advanced Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer which has spread throughout the body is commonly referred to as metastatic, or an advanced version of the disease. This is different from early stage diagnoses, which means treatment can be different for patients. Sometimes, tailoring treatment around a man’s prostate cancer can lead to more successful outcomes.
Related: New Hope For Later Stage Prostate Cancer Patients: The PARP Inhibitor Olaparib Approved By The FDA
Now, doctors are considering genetic testing for men with advanced prostate cancer, ideally at the time of diagnosis, which can help physician understand the disease better. It’s well known that knowledge is power in many circumstances, and knowing genetic sequences of tumors can help your doctor predict how well medications will respond to the disease.
Dr. Eli Van Allen explains how genetic testing can help tailor treatment for advanced prostate cancer
When it comes to treatment, hormonal therapy is the first step that many doctors will take to fight advanced prostate cancer. While it cannot technically “cure” the disease, it’s shown enormous promise in fighting off aggressive cancer cells — especially when given alongside chemotherapy. However, some tumors can stop responding responding to hormonal therapy, and if that’s the case they’ll switch to chemotherapy alone.
Giving chemotherapy to patients with advanced prostate cancer can alleviate pain they may experience as a result to the disease spreading throughout the body. Plus, it’s shown to prolong a person’s life up to a year.
Related: Rates of Advanced Prostate Cancer Have Gone Up Since Recommendations Started Advising Against PSA Test
“One of the things about chemo that’s really under appreciated, particularly for men, [is when] cancer [has] spread to the bones it’s often the cancer in the bones can cause a lot of pain,” Dr. Stephen Freedland, Director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai, tells SurvivorNet. “So when they go on the chemotherapy, the pain gets better. What we’re finding now is if we give it earlier, much earlier, we can actually have very profound effects on extending life.”
Dr. Stephen Freedland explains why chemotherapy can help advanced prostate cancer patients who have stopped responding to hormonal therapy
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Drumming Through Cancer
- Drummer Lee Kerslake passed away at the age of 73 after a two-year battle with prostate cancer.
- Kerslake collaborated with musician Ozzy Osbourne on two separate albums.
- Ozzy Osbourne’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2002 and in 2012 underwent a preventative mastectomy after learning she was high-risk for breast cancer.
Drummer Lee Kerslake has passed away at the age of 73 after a battle with prostate cancer. He was the drums behind Ozzy Osbourne’s iconic Prince of Darkness albums, and Osbourne has shared a touching tribute in the drummer’s honor.
Kerslake revealed in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and that the cancer had spread throughout his body. However, he kept fighting over the past two years. Kerslake’s bandmate, Ken Hensley, broke the sad news of the drummer’s passing in a statement, sharing that he passed peacefully and credited him as one of the best drummers in Rock history.
Read More Related: Why ‘The Talk’s’ Sharon Osbourne — A Cancer Survivor — Decided to Go Gray (And What She Did to Ozzie After Finding Out About His Affair)“It’s with the heaviest of hearts that I share with you that Lee Kerslake, my friend of 55 years and the best drummer I ever played with, lost his battle with cancer at 03:30 this morning,” Hensley wrote on his Facebook page. “He died peacefully, praise The Lord, but he will be terribly missed.”
Kerslake is known as one of the band members of Rock band Uriah Heep, but his discography also includes notable projects with the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. He served as the drummer on some of Osbourne’s iconic music albums including Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Following their collaboration, the two had a serious falling out and didn’t speak to one another for decades, but in 2019 they apparently made up. After news of Kerslake’s passing, Osbourne shared a touching tribute in the drummer’s honor.
The Osbournes’ Brush With Cancer
The Osbournes aren’t strangers to how a cancer diagnosis can impact a family. In 2002, after going 3 years without seeing a doctor, Sharon Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 49. It ended up being Ozzy who pushed Osbourne to visit her physician, and in the end, she’s grateful that she listened to her husband. Once learning about her diagnosis, Osbourne underwent surgery, but after found out that the disease had spread.
Related: 5 Truths Sharon Osbourne Learned From Colon Cancer: ‘After You Get Over the Shock and Panic, You Realize How Lucky You Are to Be Alive’
She went through chemotherapy rounds for treatment, and her cancer journey was prominently featured on her family’s reality television show The Osbournes. The treatment ended up being successful, because she was declared “cancer free.” However, Osbourne’s brush with cancer didn’t stop there. In 2012, Osbourne went through genetic testing and learned she was considered high-risk for developing ovarian or breast cancer, and underwent a preventative double mastectomy to try to avoid a possible breast cancer diagnosis.
Navigating Advanced Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer which has spread throughout the body is commonly referred to as metastatic, or an advanced version of the disease. This is different from early stage diagnoses, which means treatment can be different for patients. Sometimes, tailoring treatment around a man’s prostate cancer can lead to more successful outcomes.
Related: New Hope For Later Stage Prostate Cancer Patients: The PARP Inhibitor Olaparib Approved By The FDA
Now, doctors are considering genetic testing for men with advanced prostate cancer, ideally at the time of diagnosis, which can help physician understand the disease better. It’s well known that knowledge is power in many circumstances, and knowing genetic sequences of tumors can help your doctor predict how well medications will respond to the disease.
Dr. Eli Van Allen explains how genetic testing can help tailor treatment for advanced prostate cancer
When it comes to treatment, hormonal therapy is the first step that many doctors will take to fight advanced prostate cancer. While it cannot technically “cure” the disease, it’s shown enormous promise in fighting off aggressive cancer cells — especially when given alongside chemotherapy. However, some tumors can stop responding responding to hormonal therapy, and if that’s the case they’ll switch to chemotherapy alone.
Giving chemotherapy to patients with advanced prostate cancer can alleviate pain they may experience as a result to the disease spreading throughout the body. Plus, it’s shown to prolong a person’s life up to a year.
Related: Rates of Advanced Prostate Cancer Have Gone Up Since Recommendations Started Advising Against PSA Test
“One of the things about chemo that’s really under appreciated, particularly for men, [is when] cancer [has] spread to the bones it’s often the cancer in the bones can cause a lot of pain,” Dr. Stephen Freedland, Director of the Center for Integrated Research in Cancer and Lifestyle at Cedars-Sinai, tells SurvivorNet. “So when they go on the chemotherapy, the pain gets better. What we’re finding now is if we give it earlier, much earlier, we can actually have very profound effects on extending life.”
Dr. Stephen Freedland explains why chemotherapy can help advanced prostate cancer patients who have stopped responding to hormonal therapy
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
