Louis Walsh revealed he was diagnosed with a ‘rare’ type of cancer in 2020 as he spoke about the major health scare for the first time on Friday.
The former X Factor star, 71, revealed he had Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia a rare type of blood cancer but has since been given the all clear after receiving treatment in Dublin.
Discussing his health with Levi and Ekin-Su on Celebrity Big Brother he told the pair that ‘no one knew he was sick’.
Levi asked how Louis spent the Coronavirus lockdown, he replied: ‘I was sick, and I think nobody knew I was sick. I had cancer. A mild version, a rare one.’
Levi asked: ‘Which part? Pancreatic Cancer?’
+7
View gallery
Louis Walsh revealed he was diagnosed with a ‘rare’ type of cancer in 2020 as he opened up about the major health scare for the first time on Friday
+7
View gallery
The former X Factor star, 71, revealed he had Waldenstroms Macroglobulinemia a rare type of blood cancer but has since been given the all clear after receiving treatment in Dublin (pictured March 2020)
‘In my blood, I didn’t even know that I had it until I went to the hospital, and then they checked me, checked me, checked me, then they found it.
‘They said it’s a rare one, and I said [shrugs] gone. Gone’, replied Louis.
The music manager admitted being diagnosed with cancer left him in ‘shock’ and gave him a ‘reality check’.
He continued: ‘It did affect me mentally, I got to be honest with you. [Points to his head] it’s just up here, even when I go past a hospital I almost get sick.
‘It’s all gone, I’m fine. It was just the shock of being sick and that word…nobody wants that word.
‘In my world it was all about pop music and all that. I didn’t think of anybody getting sick or anything like that. And that was like wow reality check, you’re in the real world.’
Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia (also known as lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma) is a rare form of low-grade lymphoma (a type of bone marrow cancer), which is associated in most cases with the presence of an excessive amount of abnormal protein in the blood.
Before entering the house, Louis revealed he had signed-up to the ITV show to have fun after attending two recent funerals for friends that gave him a reality check about his own mortality.
+7
View gallery
Louis said: ‘I was sick, and I think nobody knew I was sick. I had cancer. A mild version, a rare one in my blood, I didn’t even know that I had it until I went to the hospital’
+7
View gallery
The music manager, who said his cancer is now ‘gone’, admitted being diagnosed left him in ‘shock’ and gave him a ‘reality check’ as it really affected him mentally