Heaven and Hell tour in 2009, Ronnie James Dio was experiencing intense pain and didn't know why.
He and his wife Wendy went to a specialist in Beverly Hills when Dio was suffering from chronic indigestion. In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said the doctor ordered a heart exam, but the cancer that was spreading remained undetected.
With his tests cleared, he went on tour to promote the album The Devil You Know, which was released that year.
“We didn’t know that would be his last tour,” said his bandmate Geezer Butler in the documentary Dreamers Never Die . “Before going on stage, he would lie in bed some nights with terrible stomach pain.”
“Ronnie didn’t want to take a break,” Wendy tells the Times. In fact, she says Dio had already sent the Heaven and Hell equipment back overseas in anticipation of more shows.
The tour ended on August 29, 2009, at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, NJ – and Dio never appeared on stage again.
Dio was finally diagnosed when the pain became too intense and he decided to seek a second opinion. Then the doctor came back with a terrible prognosis: “This doctor said, ‘There’s nothing we can do for you. You should go home and get your things in order,’” Wendy recalls. “It was awful. We went back to the hotel and cried a lot—and then I got a message saying we had an appointment at MD Anderson.”
Then, according to her, Dio received help from Tony Martell of the TJ Martell Foundation, who secured an appointment at the Texas unit. This time, Dio received a more optimistic prognosis and a treatment plan was put into practice. This helped prolong his life, but unfortunately did not cure the cancer. Dio went into a coma and died on May 16, 2010.
READ ALSO: Dio's swan song in Black Sabbath's 'The Devil You Know'
