Andy Brown: Lawson boyband star unveils shock health diagnosis as he shares picture from hospital bed on Instagram
Boyband star Andy Brown has unveiled a shock health diagnosis as he shared a picture from his hospital bed.
The Lawson singer has told fans he has been living with a rare blood disorder for the last 10 years and needs a stem cell transplant. If he doesn't have the transplant, Andy - who previously had a brain tumour removed - says there is "a very high chance" he could develop leukaemia.
Thankfully, the star has found a stem cell match and has beem undergoing a course of chemotherapy ahead of his transplant. Andy shared the news of his current health battle on Instagram alongside a black and white snap of himself in hospital.
The dad-of-two is wearing a dressing gown in the picture and is giving a brave thumbs up to the camera. Andy wrote on Instagram: "Day 4 of chemo done. It’s stepped up big time the last couple of days, not feeling the best at the moment, but there’s just no way round it. Three more days to go, then the new stem cells go in next Tuesday!
"Staying positive as much as I can, but I won’t pretend it’s easy. I’ve spent years being so mindful of what I put into my body, ten years sober, clean eating, all of it. So feeling what this chemo is doing hits hard. But I know it’s part of the fight. It’s about accepting it, getting through it, and coming back stronger."
Andy was the lead vocalist of pop/ rock band Lawson, who achieved mainstream fame in 2012 with their debut album Chapman Square. The group - also made up of Ryan Fletcher, Joel Peat and Adam Pitts -achieved five top 10 hits in the UK charts.
The band was named after David Lawson, a consultant neurosurgeon at The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Liverpool. Andy credits Mr Lawson for saving his life in 2007 following 17 hours of brain surgery to remove acoustic neuroma – a non-cancerous brain tumour which grows on the nerve in the inner ear.
These days, Andy has turned his back on showbiz and works as a successful photographer. Andy said he wanted to speak about his condition in case it helped just one person.
He said: "For the past 10 years, I’ve been living with a rare blood disorder. Up to now, it hadn’t massively affected my day to day life, apart from frequent blood tests and the occasional infection, but as things stand, if it’s not treated, I have a very high chance of developing Leukaemia."
He continued: "I have a 100% matching donor. I find it so overwhelming that a total stranger, someone I’ve never met, is willing to give up their cells and blood to save my life. That’s just incredible.”