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Michael Flatley – otherwise known as the Lord of the Dance – has undergone surgery for an aggressive form of cancer.
His team made the devastating announcement in a social-media statement earlier this month, saying the charismatic dancer had “undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors”.
Alongside the message, they shared a poignant black-and-white image of the 64-year-old looking out to sea while standing on a beach.
They did not specify what type of cancer he has, but appealed to the dance icon’s legion of fans for “prayers and well wishes” as he recovers.
Michael – who is being supported by his wife, Niamh (44), and son Michael Jr (15) – was reportedly given the diagnosis before Christmas. Sadly this isn't his first battle with the disease.
Eight years ago he revealed he’d been diagnosed with melanoma (skin cancer) in 2003.
Ironically the condition was spotted not by him but by a viewer who recognised the symptoms during an MTV appearance.
“It was purely by chance that it was noticed. I had never even noticed it . . . it can be a frightening place to be,” Michael told the Irish Independent at the time.
“Somebody watched the interview and brought it to the attention of my personal assistant and said: ‘Did you ever notice the brown spot on the side of Michael’s face?’ I had never even noticed it.
“They advised me to go and have it looked at. I did and the doctor took a sample of it there and then. I was flying to Barbados the next day and he gave me a call and asked me to come and see him.
“I said I was leaving for the airport and would he mind if I called him when I got back? He said, ‘No, I need you to come in immediately’.”
Michael added, “So many people who surround me have had cancer and so many people I know have died from it. I can sympathise with anybody who is lying on that bed and facing the uncertainty of the future. It can be a frightening place.”
The star, who was born in Chicago to Irish-American parents, shot to fame as part of the Riverdance troupe, whose show-stopping performance at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest put Irish dancing into the global spotlight.
He later opened his own Lord of the Dance show, which enjoyed sell-out success worldwide for many years.
Most recently he wrote, directed and starred in the action spy flick Blackbird, which was released last year. Co-starring Eric Roberts, it was largely panned by critics
The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw likened the acting to the “unsexy bits of a mid-'80s porn film”, while The Telegraph dubbed it an “awful 007 rip-off”.
Sources: dailymail.co.uk, Instagram, mirror.co.uk
