Health issues for Ian Anderson…..

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I have been a huge fan of Jethro Tull since my youth and experienced a fantastic concert twelve years ago with the band. The leader Ian Anderson is undoubtedly a great musician and not least a fantastic songwriter. He also appears to be  very sympathetic, but now I`m pretty sad because Anderson is sick!

Ian Anderson states : «I’m suffering from an incurable lung disease»!

«It’s not yet at the point that it affects my day to day life – I can still run for the bus».

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson reveals he was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease a couple of years ago. «Fingers crossed, I’ve gone 18 months now without an exacerbation and I’m on medication. If I’m kept in a reasonably pollution-free environment in terms of air quality, I do OK. But my days are numbered».

Asked what the disease is called in medical circles, Anderson replies: «Popularly termed COPD, where you lose some of the ability of your lungs to give you enough oxygen. I spend 50 years of my life on stage among those wretched things that I call smoke machines».

«Today, they’re politely referred to as hazers, as if they’re somehow innocent and not damaging to you lungs. I really do believe that’s a very significant part of the problem I have». The track Aqualung,

«Fight it all the way – keep using as much of your lung power as you’re lucky enough to have and push it to the limit all the time». A hard fight that probably requires a lot of stubbornness and will ?! Anderson do have plenty of those skills as far as I know.

«The minute you settle back and say, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ it’s a slippery slope. The answer is keep pushing». The track Locomotive Breath,

In a video clip from the show, Anderson says: «I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anybody in public before – I am suffering from an incurable lung disease which I was diagnosed with a couple of years back».

«I do struggle. I have what are called exacerbations – periods when I get an infection that turns into severe bronchitis and I have maybe two or three weeks when it’s really a tough job to go out there on stage and play».

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