Robin Gibb, one of the two surviving members of the Bee Gees, is suffering from liver cancer and was rushed to the hospital several days ago via ambulance after his family called 999 -- the British equivalent of 911 -- for treatment.
Gibb, 61, was diagnosed with liver cancer several months ago, according to the Sunday Mirror, which reported that older brother Barry, 65, his wife, Linda, and mother Barbara Gibb, 91, had flown in from their homes in the U.S. to be with Robin.
Robin Gibb was allowed to return home Tuesday after spending five hours in the hospital; he said later in a statement that he had been treated for inflammation of the colon, the Sun reported. The always-slim singer, who has appeared gaunt in recent months, has had to cancel a number of appearances this year.
"Robin is not good and there is a lot of concern for him ... ," a family friend told the Sunday Mirror. "But Robin is a strong character, he is a fighter and has been encouraged by all the online messages from his fans. Dwina [his wife] is doing everything possible and hasn’t left his side"
In a previously recorded "Living the Life" TV interview that the Telegraph said was set to air Sunday night, Robin speaks of his twin brother's death in 2003 as "something I haven’t accepted still. He was a relatively young man and he just went all of a sudden."
Maurice Gibb, the third member of the Bee Gees, died at age 53 of complications due to a twisted small intestine, which was noted in his autopsy report as a congenital condition. After suffering abdominal pain while performing in August 2010, Robin Gibb had surgery for the same sort of blockage.
In April, he canceled a series of concert dates in Brazil after being hospitalized for abdominal pain.
Andy Gibb, the family's fourth brother and a solo artist, died of heart failure in 1988 at age 30 after years of struggling with cocaine addiction. The Bee Gees, famed for their dominance in the disco era, were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees is fighting liver cancer
