Tracey Emin, 57, reveals her bladder cancer has ‘gone’ after series of harrowing surgeries a year after being diagnosed with ‘really, really aggressive’ form of the disease
- Emin, 57, was diagnosed early last year after discovering a tumour in her bladder
- She surgery last summer, when many of her reproductive organs were removed
- She reached a ‘big, big milestone’ and last week three-monthly scans were ‘clear’
Artist Tracey Emin has revealed her cancer has ‘gone’ after she underwent surgery.
The 57-year-old was diagnosed early last year after discovering a tumour in her bladder while working on a painting of a malignant lump.
She had surgery last summer, when many of her reproductive organs were removed and she was fitted with a stoma bag.
Emin told Newsnight she has reached a ‘big, big milestone’ and last week her three-monthly scans were ‘all clear’.
In an interview set to air on Friday, she told the programme: ‘I’m not painting because I’m using my willpower to stay alive. That’s what I’m doing.’
The 57-year-old was diagnosed early last year after discovering a tumour in her bladder while working on a painting of a malignant lump
She had surgery last summer, when many of her reproductive organs were removed and she was fitted with a stoma bag
Emin, best known for works such as her unmade bed and the tent Everyone I Have Ever Slept With, added she hoped to return to painting in the future.
‘I never realised how much I wanted to live until I thought I was going to die,’ she said.
Emin said she will now move to annual cancer scans. In October last year the artist said she hoped to ‘get past Christmas’ following the cancer diagnosis.
She found she had a tumour in her bladder in June and was suffering with very aggressive squamous cell cancer, which surgeons feared would kill her in months if it spread to her lymph nodes.
As a result, a decision was made to remove not only her bladder but also her uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, lymph nodes, urethra and part of her colon and vagina.
Prior to the surgery, Miss Emin said she stayed up for 24 hours with her solicitor rewriting her will before sending an email to 70 friends breaking the news of her cancer and instructing them: ‘Do not contact me’.
She has been left with a stoma bag as a result of having ‘half my body chopped out’ and is sadly still struggling to paint.
But it did not stop Miss Emin from feeling ‘very happy’, explaining in December: ‘I‘m doing brilliant, I’m doing so well.
‘I’m so happy and I’m just taking every day as it comes and I’m just so happy to be alive because there was quite a strong expectation that I wasn’t going to make it through Christmas.
‘And I am going to make it to Christmas and the next Christmas and the next one.
‘That’s what I’m aiming for, so I’m feeling really happy and good and I just wish the world would get better. I wish the world would catch up with me on this one.’
Miss Emin continued: ‘It could’ve been very, very different so I’m so grateful. My surgeon and the team are calling me a miracle woman because I just sort of like jumped up and got back into everything.
‘Maybe at the beginning a little bit too fast… because I was back in bed for a month again. But now I’m balancing things and being more cautious.
‘I want to live forever. I want to do my art, I want to have more exhibitions, there’s things to do… and I had to think ‘I’m not going to be doing it’. I had to come to terms with that.’
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