Ex-Beatle Harrison 'Feeling Fine'

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/09/2001 at 10:21 AM EDT

Former Beatle George Harrison, 58, who reportedly received radiation treatments for cancer in Switzerland more than a month ago, released a statement through his London lawyer on Monday: "I am feeling fine," the statement said, "and I am really sorry for the unnecessary worry which has been caused by the reports appearing in today's press." The news stories, first reported by the Swiss paper Sonntagszeitung on Sunday, said that the musician (who has a history of cancer) had been treated for a brain tumor at San Giovanni Hospital in Bellinzona, Switzerland. The paper quoted cancer specialist Franco Cavalli as not denying that he was treating the ex-Beatle, though Cavalli declined to discuss specifics. On Monday, the hospital, in Switzerland's Italian-speaking Ticino region, confirmed Harrison had been a patient, but neither confirmed nor denied that he had a brain tumor. "Mr. George Harrison was referred to the hospital to undergo a course of radiotherapy. Harrison successfully completed this course more than a month ago and we foresee no need for further treatment here," Cavalli said in a statement. In May, Harrison was in America's Mayo Clinic for a separate operation, to have a cancer-like sore removed from his lungs. In 1998, Harrison overcame throat cancer, which he blamed on smoking. He was given the all-clear following radiation treatment.