Tracey Emin’s chilling prediction before losing ‘half of body’ to cancer surgery

Five years ago, acclaimed artist Tracey Emin’s bladder ‘stopped working’ while she was in hospital for appendicitis.

As a result she suffered kidney reflux, with urine being fed back into her body where it manifested itself as lumps and bumps beneath her skin.

Ever since, the 57 year old had been self-catheterising and suffering repeated painful infections as a result. But during lockdown she noticed a new kind of discomfort and started seeing blood on her catherters.

An urgent MRI scan revealed a tumour in her bladder caused by squamous cell cancer – an extremely aggressive form of the disease.

Recalling how the mass looked like ‘coral’, doctors told her they needed to act quickly but predicted that a simple operation to remove her bladder should do the trick.

But the situation quickly became more complicated. If the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, Tracey was warned she would be dead by Christmas.

With extreme surgery to remove her reproductive organs the only option, Tracey’s surgeon reeled off the parts earmarked for removal.

She told The Times: “He said, ‘So we’re going to remove your bladder and we’re going to remove your uterus, your fallopian tubes, your ovaries, your lymph nodes, part of your colon, your urethra.’”

She continued: “I said to him, ‘Oh my God, anything else?’ And he said, ‘Yes, part of your vagina.’ And I went, ‘Oh f***ing hell.’”

During a six and a half hour operation in July, 12 surgeons removed what Tracey described to Artnet as, ‘half my body, including half my vagina.”

She fought to keep her clitoris and hopes ‘therapies and dilation’ will help to reopen her vagina in time.

She explained: “They had to cut away a whole side of the vaginal wall and sew it back together, so it’s really, really sealed.

“I said to the doctors, ‘So I’m going to lose a load of weight and have a really tight vagina — and this is bad?’”

Thankfully, her lymph nodes were found to be cancer-free and Tracey – who had been planning a new life in Margate at the time of her diagnosis – is now in remission and using a stoma bag.

Bizarrely though, in the months leading up to her illness a sudden urge to paint one particular picture had overtaken Tracey, keeping her up at night.

Unsure as to what she was actually painting, the former 90s wild child told Artnet she would stare at the image, trying to decipher it.

But after her diagnosis it suddenly became clear – it was a malignant tumour.

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