Blues singer is healthy again Philipp Fankhauser: "The illness is gone"

Musician Philipp Fankhauser had withdrawn from the limelight in recent months due to myelofibrosis. After a stem cell transplant, he is now completely healthy again.

Musician Philipp Fankhauser has recovered from myelofibrosis following a stem cell transplant. The bone marrow disease is not only cured, it is simply no longer there, the blues musician said in an interview.

The 59-year-old said in an interview with "Blick" published on Saturday that two months ago it was discovered for the first time that his levels remained stable. His doctor told him that he was now as good as new.

His ankylosing spondylitis had also disappeared as a result of the treatment. This is a spinal disease, as the Rheumaliga Schweiz writes on its website.

The disease has accompanied Fankhauser throughout his life. "I grew up in Ticino, didn't do any sport because of my stiffness and was overweight." The melancholy of his music stems from this time. "That had a strong influence on me. And was probably the reason why I became a blues singer and not a pop singer." He was only diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and now only the consequential damage remains.

Two birthdays

"It really is a miracle of medicine," the musician told the newspaper. Instead of blood group 0, he now has blood group A. He never had to suffer during the treatment, he said. "After eight days of chemotherapy, I received four or five bags of this strange liquid for the first time. Nothing nice, it looked like flour soup."

Fankhauser now has two birthdays: February 20 - when he turns 60 - and July 25, when his transplant began. All he knows about the donor is that he is 23 years old, lives somewhere in the world "and was kind enough to make himself available". Fankhauser will play his first concert on March 1 in Stäfa ZH.

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