Elton John is 'lucky to be alive' after he being struck down with appendicitis and ignoring it for the sake of 'the show must go on' .
Elton cancelled his remaining summer concert dates yesterday after falling ill with the condition, and revealed how he has been playing through agonising pain and could have could have died 'at any time', saying 'I was a ticking time bomb. I guess I could have died at any time. I feel so lucky and so grateful to be alive. I played nine gigs and the White Tie and Tiara Summer Ball in agony.'
66-year-old Elton initially thought he had food poisoning but medical tests showed he had a potentially-fatal appendix abscess. He was given drugs to reduce his inflamed appendix and antibiotics to lower the chances of him getting blood poisoning and is now resting at his home in Windsor, and will have surgery when the swelling has gone down.
According to a source who spoke to The Sun: 'Elton is over the worst but is still very sick. It's been a horrible ordeal. He hates not being able to do gigs he was booked for. But there's no way fans will blame him considering the ordeal he's just been through.'
Ready for a fun statistic? Elton has played 170 gigs in the past year, and has a sting of festival dates still lined up with hopes he'll be back for his iTunes Festival and Bestival shows in September. The man is 66 and does it all. Those flowers don't pay for themselves sure.
