The vocalist can't taste the sugar
In an interview with Kerrang!, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson spoke about 2014, when he was diagnosed with tongue cancer. The vocalist shared that he feared for his voice, and talked about how he dealt with the diagnosis and treatment:
“I was very anxious about the first shows after the comeback, because none of us knew how I would sound, my voice. Undoubtedly, many things had changed and it was difficult. Many things were uncertain. You had to open your mouth and see what came out. If a bag of rust came out I would have to think 'oh, no'.”
Regarding the treatment, Dickinson says she resisted many of the procedures: “I refused a lot of things, like feeding tubes. They wanted to put tubes and holes in me. I said, 'No, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to feed myself somehow.' I thought, 'I'm going to get through this as quickly as I can, if it doesn't work I'll think of another plan.' I was very lucky not to have lost a catastrophic amount of weight, like many people do.”
You might feel sorry for yourself, and I went through a phase like that. But I thought, 'there's no reason to assume the outcome will be bad'.".
The vocalist revealed that although the cancer had little effect on his voice, he can no longer taste sugar. But he added: "Man, just being alive is a great result .