TONY IOMMI To Raffle Off One Of His Guitars To Raise Funds For Hospital Where He Was Treated For His Cancer

According to BBC News, BLACK SABBATH's Tony Iommi will raffle off one of his Gibson SG guitars to raise money for the hospital where he received his cancer treatment.

The 77-year-old guitar legend was treated at Birmingham, United Kingdom's Heartlands Hospital in 2012 after being diagnosed with lymphoma a few months earlier. Four years later, Iommi revealed that his cancer was in remission.

Earlier today, Iommi joined staff at Heartlands Hospital to help launch a fundraising drive as part of a £150,000 appeal to refurbish the hospital's cancer treatment center.

Speaking to BBC about his diagnosis, Iommi said: "It was a terrible shock. It's really hard when you're going through that. You just never think until you're in that situation, and I know how difficult it is, and how they feel. I like to be able to give something back and be involved and help."

Reflecting on the treatment he received at Heartlands, Tony said: "The more comfortable you can make the patient, the better. I know when I was in, they treated me so well, that everybody was so nice, the nurses were nice, everybody was great. To have the right environment means a hell of a lot."

Iommi will make an announcement on his social media when the raffle goes live.

Iommi revealed his cancer diagnosis in early 2012, shortly after SABBATH announced a reunion tour and album. He underwent treatment throughout the recording of the disc, titled "13", and the subsequent tour to promote it.

The BLACK SABBATH guitarist successfully underwent an operation in January 2017 to remove a noncancerous lump from his throat.

"13" was the first album in 35 years to feature Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne and bassist Geezer Butler all playing together.

During a June 2023 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Iommi stated about his health: "I'm up and down. I go for my checks. In fact, I was there the day before yesterday, just getting different checks again. It's like any old person [laughs] — you have problems. But, no, all in all, it's been pretty good. Certainly as far as the cancer side of it, it's been — dare I say — good. I get other ailments, like your hands ache and feet and things like that. But apart from that, it's good. And I think doing what I'm doing keeps me up. I don't sit at home just sitting on the couch; I'm out and about doing stuff. And it's good — it keeps you motivated; it keeps you moving."

Regarding where his cancer battle stood at the time, Tony said: "Well, they keep it under control. They check the immune system all the time to make sure you keep it up. I have [vitamin] B12 shots and just try and eat a bit better and try and look after your health a bit more. That's why, really, I had to stop these major tours, because they were long tours and late-night tours. By the time you'd finished playing, especially when we were in the States, and we'd have a base, say, in New York, for 10 days, and we'd have our own plane and fly out to different places and come back. And by the time we get back to the hotel, it's three o'clock in the morning. And these late nights were affecting me a bit. And my oncologist said, 'You know, you shouldn't really be flying as much and doing this amount of work.' So that's sort of why it came to the end of me touring for 18 months. But, yeah, I loved it — I love touring; I love playing; I love seeing the audience. And I still wanna get out and play, but I won't be able to do major tours like that. As I said before, maybe a week or two or whatever, but it's hard to do that, because you've got the crews that work — you have top-notch crews, and you can't expect them to just do two weeks. They wanna get out and do a U.S. tour. But I will be going out, I suppose, doing something along the line. I've been asked to do various things, and we'll see what happens."

In February 2017, SABBATH finished "The End" tour in Birmingham, closing out the quartet's groundbreaking 49-year career.

"The End" was SABBATH's last tour because Iommi can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.

Iommi previously spoke about his battle with lymphoma in a 2013 interview with Guitar World magazine. At the time, he said: "The [cancer] diagnosis came when I was doing my book tour [in 2011] before we started rehearsal. On the book tour, I saw a doctor because this lump appeared in my groin. We thought it was just a swollen gland, so he gave me antibiotics. After the book tour, I was going to L.A to start rehearsals. He said if it wasn't gone in two weeks when I got there, I should see another doctor. So I did, because it was still there. He gave me more antibiotics, because I had developed an infection from this other problem I had with my prostate. It was too big and had to be cut down. So I thought the other lump was part of that. But it never went away. So we were rehearsing and writing, and I kept feeling this pain down in my groin. And Ozzy kept saying, 'You don't look really well.' And I'd say, 'Well, I don't feel too good.' He also told me to go get it checked out. I was going back to England to have the prostate operation, so I decided just to wait until then. They said they'd take out that other lump while they were in there. I thought nothing of it at all, but they found out it was cancer."

He continued: [After they told me I had cancer] my whole life changed. And they're so casual about it! They say, 'The good news is that your prostate is really good. But the lump, we found lymphoma in it.' Lymphoma, what's that? Well, I knew what it was, but I wanted to hear them say it: cancer. Once I heard that, it was awful. I thought, God, of all the times."