Ex-Beatle Harrison has cancer surgery

Harrison: Feeling "relaxed and free"

LONDON, England -- Former Beatle George Harrison has undergone surgery for cancer in the United States, his solicitors have said.

The 58-year-old star had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs and is reported to be relaxing in Tuscany, Italy.

The operation had been completely successful and he has made an excellent recovery, his solicitors said in a statement.

Harrison and his wife, Olivia, were attacked by a knife-wielding man at the couple's home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, on December 30, 1999. One of Harrison's lungs was punctured in the attack.

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Michael Abram, 34, was later acquitted on grounds of insanity and confined to a mental hospital.

The lawyers' statement said Harrison was now "in the best of spirits and on top form -- the most relaxed and free since the attack on him in 1999."

Referring to the star's re-released album, it added: "Although All Things Must Pass Away, George has no plans right now and is still Living In The Material World, and wishes everyone all the very best, God Bless and not to worry."

Harrison had treatment for throat cancer after a lump was discovered on his neck in 1997, followed by courses of radiation therapy at Britain's leading cancer treatment centre, the Royal Marsden Hospital.

He later said:"I got it from smoking. I gave up cigarettes many years ago, but had started again for a while and then stopped in 1997.

"Luckily they found that this nodule was more of a warning than anything else. There are many different types of cancerous cells and this was a very basic type," he added.

Harrison said earlier this year: "I had a little throat cancer. I had a piece of my lung removed in 1997, and then I was almost murdered.

"But I seem to feel stronger. I don't smoke any more. I'm a little more short of breath than I used to be, so I don't see myself on stage lasting a full 14 rounds."

Former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed more than 20 years ago in New York City.

Besides Harrison, two other ex-Beatles survive, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

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