In a new interview with SPIN, Rage Against The Machine bassist, Tim Commerford, reveals that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and recently underwent surgery to have his prostate removed.
SPIN reports that Commerford spent his summer on the road with Rage Against the Machine for the first time in 11 years. The tour nearly fell apart after just a few days, when singer Zack de la Rocha tore his Achilles tendon during a show in Chicago. De la Rocha finished the itinerary by performing while seated, but what the public didn’t know was that Commerford was also battling a significant challenge of his own.
“I’ve been dealing with some pretty serious shit,” Commerford tells SPIN's Daniel Kohn. “Right before I was about to go on tour with Rage, I had my prostate removed, and I have prostate cancer.” With the support of his girlfriend and two sons, the 54-year-old musician, who is the embodiment of a chiseled rock star, suddenly faced the toughest battle of his life.
“I’ve been someone that’s taken a lot of pride in being in shape and taking care of myself,” he says. “But it’s something where either you’re either lucky or not.”
Asked how he's kept a positive outlook, Commerford replies, "You can find yourself in a situation like I’m in where it’s like, fuck, my whole life changed. With everything that happens to me now, I wonder, am I feeling this way because I have cancer? Am I losing my hair because I have cancer? Whatever it is, it makes me wonder if it’s happening because I have cancer. And prostate cancer is a very, very, very tough one because it’s connected to your sexuality. It’s hard to disconnect from that and when you’re forced into that situation, it’s a brutal psychological journey. I’ve been trying to find support groups, and it’s hard to find people and hard to talk about it. The suffering part of it, the physical suffering after the surgery, I’ve never felt pain quite like that. I have metal plates in my head and cadaver parts in my body. I’ve done a lot of damage through sports and mountain biking and this sort of thing and I’ve always felt like I had a really high tolerance for pain, and that shit brought me to my knees. After the pain went away, I still haven’t really been able to get up, even though I’m working out and doing shit, but psychologically, the damage is severe. It’s very hard for me to not break down and get emotional."
Read more at SPIN.
