The Rockets lead guitarist Jerry Watt shocked fans on Saturday night when he walked on stage using crutches.
The founding member of the popular Cape Town band was performing at the Jazzathon, and played the guitar while seated on a bar chair.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, the 67 year old opened up about a recent health scare that saw him going under the knife for a marathon 16-hour operation to remove a mass of soft tissue growth on the left side of his stomach.
“The pain in my stomach and the loss of appetite became unbearable and I was admitted to hospital for tests in March,” he says.
“It was around April when I had the lengthy operation to remove the growth and this caused my left knee to also be affected, hence I’m on crutches.”
Jerry, from Edgemead, says he spent three weeks in hospital and lost a lot of weight in the process.
“When I noticed that even my favourite foods were difficult to get in, I knew something was wrong.
“After the operation, I couldn’t eat until in May when my appetite returned.”
A proud Jerry says he is just grateful to be back on stage: “I kept my illness on the down-low because I am a private person but after the operation I had, I feel good.
“God was with the doctors. He blessed me with the gift of music and so I know I still need to share that with people. I’m 100% now.”
His band performed at two gigs without him over the Easter period and he says fans noticed his absence.
“They said things like ‘this is not the original Rockets without Jerry, where is Jerry? We want Jerry’.
“When people saw me on crutches, their jaws dropped and they were shocked to see me in my condition.
“But don’t worry, the guitar still speaks to you as it normally does. People are emotional about my condition but I want to assure everyone that I am OK.”
Jerry’s operation took place at Tygerberg Hospital because he could no longer afford his medical aid payments during Covid.
“I have minor medical bills now, nothing I can’t afford to pay off,” he adds.