Heartbreaking details about George Harrison's final months despite autopsy mystery
George Harrison fought a long and hard battle against cancer, but his full autopsy report is still a mystery 24 years later.
Harrison battled several different forms of cancer and sought treatment all over the world before he died at the age of 58 on November 29, 2001. Those who were present during his death said he left his body in the spiritual way he'd been practicing for decades. After the tragic event, which left Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr the last surviving Beatles, his loved ones gave him a send-off he would've loved.
However, more than two decades later, some mysteries still surround Harrison's death. His autopsy report was never released, and there were issues with the place of death that was initially added to his death certificate.
In 1997, after Harrison discovered a lump in his throat, doctors diagnosed him with throat cancer. They successfully removed the lump and Harrison underwent two radiation treatments at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, one of the U.K.'s leading cancer centers, per Rolling Stone.
Harrison played down his illness by saying, "I am very lucky. I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." However, not long after becoming cancer-free, Harrison almost died in a home invasion in 1999. The former Beatle was left with multiple stab wounds and a collapsed lung.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota examined Harrison on an annual basis. In March 2001, they diagnosed him with lung cancer. That May, he underwent successful surgery to remove a growth. However, by the summer, he was told that his cancer had spread to his brain.
Harrison and his wife, Olivia, began a worldwide search for treatment. It was reported that he was recovering from his lung surgery in a villa in Luino, Italy. However, he was actually receiving "grueling" cobalt treatments for a brain tumor at the San Giovanni hospital in Bellinzona, Switzerland.
In November, the Harrisons' search for treatment led them to Staten Island University Hospital in New York City. However, the treatment didn't work, and as Harrison's health began failing him, he and his family began staying in Los Angeles.
Once there, Harrison used Olivia's maiden name to check into UCLA Medical Center as Jorge Arias. However, doctors couldn't do much but alleviate his pain. His wife and son, Dhani, made him comfortable in his final days. As a very spiritual person, Harrison was not afraid of death. He had been preparing to die for years and wanted to leave his body peacefully. Dhani even claimed he bore no scars on his body at the moment of his death, which was a special feat in itself.
Harrison died peacefully on Nov. 29, 2001, with many of his friends and family in attendance, while the Hare Krishna Temple chanted to God. When he left his body, Olivia said he lit the room. "There was a profound experience that happened when he left his body," she explained in Martin Scorsese's documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. "It was visible. Let's just say you wouldn't need to light the room if you were trying to film it. You know, he just lit the room."
Harrison's official autopsy report was never released, but his cause of death was listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as "metastatic non-small cell lung cancer." According to Beatles Bible, his body was wrapped in a shawl and covered with holy oils. Twenty minutes after he died, staff from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery collected his body. Harrison's family and friends said prayers.
Source: Hannah Furnell/irishstar.com
