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\n\tRob Hirst, the drummer of Australian rock veterans Midnight Oil<\/a>, has revealed he is currently battling pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n \n\t69-year-old Hirst, who co-founded the Sydney rock outfit in the \u201870s, revealed his diagnosis publicly in an interview with The Australian<\/em><\/a>, explaining that he has been living with the disease for two years. Hirst noted he had received confirmation of his condition about six months after Midnight Oil wrapped up the Australian leg of their farewell tour in October 2023, and he\u2019s been receiving constant medical assistance since.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSo it\u2019s ongoing,\u201d Hirst told the publication. \u201cI\u2019ve had pretty much every treatment known to man \u2013 every scan, ultrasound, MRI. I\u2019ve kind of had \u2018the works.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHirst explained that he was diagnosed \u201cearly,\u201d with his tumor being caught while at stage three. Upon learning of his condition, Hirst embarked upon months of chemotherapy before an unsuccessful eight-hour \u201cWhipple\u201d surgery to attempt the removal of the tumor. He has since continued with both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.<\/p>\n \n\tThough initially keeping his diagnosis a secret, Hirst has since gone public to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer, noting that it \u201chasn\u2019t really attracted the attention, for example, of skin cancers or breast cancers or others.\u201d According to data from Cancer Australia<\/a>, the average survival rate of individuals between 2016 and 2020 was 13%, with men given a chance of 12%.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cComing up to two years, I thought I just need to get this, literally, off my chest,\u201d Hirst explained. \u201cAlso, I think that the lesson for me \u2013 and maybe why I\u2019ve lasted this long \u2013 is because, if you do have any of that kind of symptom, where there\u2019s something that you feel is wrong, just go and get a simple blood test. It could be life-changing, and life-extending.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMidnight Oil first formed in Sydney in 1972 as Farm, before adopting their later moniker in 1976. The group initially released eleven albums before splitting in 2002, with their breakthrough coming in 1982 with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1<\/em>, which hit No. 3 in Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tTheir following three albums \u2013 1984\u2019s Red Sails in the Sunset<\/em>, 1987\u2019s Diesel and Dust<\/em>, and 1990\u2019s Blue Sky Mining<\/em> \u2013 all topped the Australian charts, while the latter gave them a peak of No. 20 on the Billboard 200. Their 1987 single \u201cBeds Are Burning\u201d is often considered a landmark of Australian music, with its message of Indigenous land rights also resonating internationally and peaking at No. 17 on the Hot 100.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile the band would be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006, they would reform a decade later in 2016, and following a global reunion tour, they issued The Makarrata Project<\/em> in 2020 and Resist<\/em> in 2022. While both albums would reach No. 1 in Australia, the former was released just one week before longtime bassist Bones Hillman passed from cancer at the age of 62.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n