Jeff Healey Lost Cancer Battle

In a Toronto hospital on Sunday evening, Jeff Healey lost his long battle with cancer.

Acclaimed jazz and rock guitarist Jeff Healey was remembered Sunday as a musician of rare ability who had a wicked sense of humour and a generous nature as fans and bandmates mourned his death at age 41, following a battle with cancer.

Bandmates of Canadian rock and jazz legend Jeff Healey were among those shocked by the news of his death Sunday.

Healey died Sunday evening in a Toronto hospital surrounded by family and a bandmate, Colin Bray.

Jeff Healey – a Grammy-nominated musician – survived by his wife Christie and two children (daughter Rachel, 13 and son Derek, 3) had long battled with cancer since age one  when he lost his eyesight to retinoblastoma — a rare form of retinal cancer.

Bray said Healey had been hospitalized for a week and that his advanced lung cancer made his final hours difficult.

Healey had undergone numerous operations in recent years to remove tumours from his lungs and leg.

Find more details of this sad news from The Canadian Press.