Confronting details from John Farnham’s marathon cancer operation

Singer John Farnham has had reconstruction surgery after “part of [his] jaw had to be removed” during a marathon operation to remove a cancerous tumour.

The singer remained in intensive care in a Melbourne hospital after  “successful” 11-and-a-half-hour surgery on Tuesday to remove a tumour from his mouth.

In a statement on Wednesday, Farnham’s wife Jill and sons Rob and James said he was in a stable condition.

“John has been through an 11-and-a-half hour surgery in Melbourne yesterday and is now in a stable condition in ICU,” Jill wrote.

“The cancer tumour was located in his mouth and it has been successfully removed.

“There is still a long road of recovery and healing ahead of us, but we know John is up for that task.”

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Entertainment reporter Peter Ford said Farnham had two procedures during Tuesday’s lengthy operation.

“The first was the removal of the tumour from his mouth,” he told Seven’s The Morning Show on Wednesday.

“After that was completed, the reconstructive team came in to take over and there was reconstructive surgery because part of John’s jaw had to be removed as part of tackling this.”

Ford said the music icon was “fully lucid, he is conscious, he is in ICU, he will be there for a long time to come”.

“But as we’ve heard all along from the statement from the family again, and the statement that came out earlier this morning, they have twice used the word ‘successful’, so that gives reason for optimism and hope,” he said.

“But that’s not to downplay what John is going through.”

It came as family friend Gaynor Wheatley, the widow of Farnham’s late manager Glenn Wheatley, said that Jill Farnham had convinced the singer to have a medical check after he found a lesion in his mouth a fortnight ago.

“It is a much happier day today for all of us,” Ms Wheatley told Today on Wednesday.

“I think John suffers from that man thing that says ‘I’m fine’ and it was lucky we have Jill to thank for taking him to the doctor – where they found this lesion in his mouth, which has now been taken out and addressed.”

Farnham’s family paid tribute to hospital staff on Wednesday, and thanked the public for their well wishes.

“We are in awe of the incredible teams of health care professionals who have guided us through this very challenging time with such compassion,” they said.

“To all the surgeons, doctors, nurses and consultants – thank you one and all so very much.”

The singer’s operation began at 8am on Tuesday in a Melbourne hospital and was successfully completed at 7.30 that night.

Before his surgery, Farnham, 73, said a cancer diagnosis was something many people faced each day “and countless others have walked this path before me”.

“The one thing I know for sure is that we have the very best specialist health care professionals in Victoria and we can all be grateful for that. I know I am,” he said.

It comes three years after Farnham suffered a health scare and was hospitalised with a severe kidney infection.

Farnham sang his way into Australian hearts as a fresh-faced teenager in the 1960s, but had faded into near-obscurity before his 1986 album Whispering Jack shot him back to the top some 20 years later.

The album produced one of the nation’s best-known anthems, You’re the Voice, and propelled Farnham to hero status.

He followed up Whispering Jack with his chart-topping albums Age of Reason (1988) and Chain Reaction (1990).

Farnham was born in 1949 in Dagenham, England. He emigrated to Australia aged 10 with his family, who settled in Melbourne.

-with AAP

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