Steve Perry: Journey Frontman Opens Up About Cancer Scare, Losing His Girlfriend
Steve Perry has opened up about his recent cancer scare, telling fans of his band Journey that shortly after losing his girlfriend to cancer he got his own diagnosis.
Perry wrote about falling in love with psychologist and breast cancer survivor Kellie Nash after he saw her on television. Steve was working on a cancer special for Lifetime when he caught a glimpse of Nash and knew he needed to meet her.
He recalled sitting in an editing room with Patty Jenkins when he saw Nash in the opening scenes of the special. He asked Patty if she would send Nash an email to tell her “your friend Steve would love to take her to coffee or lunch sometime.”
But Patty had some news about Nash — her cancer had come back, and she was now in Stage 4 fighting for her life.
“I was frozen……. I didn’t know what to do…….. I had lost my mom, dad, grandparents that raised me and I was an only child so my first thought was to maybe not send the email; then my heart said, Maybe we could be friends or maybe she could be my shrink. So I said, ‘Please send it.’ ”
So the two met and fell in love, Steve Perry recalled. He stayed by her side as she battled cancer and moved to New York City for an alternative treatment.
Perry said they “had the most magical summer of our lives together.” But the treatment did not work, and Nash died in December. Steve said he has been grieving the last five months and recalling everything he learned from his short time with Kellie.
“Though Kellie and I were only together for one-and-a-half years, it was a lifetime of love packed into every moment,” he wrote.
Now Steve Perry had had a cancer scare of his own. He recently had a mole removed from his face that doctors found was cancerous. The former Journey frontman had two surgeries, but doctors said they believe they got all the cancer out without a need for further treatment.
Though his heart may be broken, Steve Perry is continuing on with his music.
