Rod Stewart Tells How MS Wrecked Bandmate's Life
Scotland on Sunday; Edinburgh (UK); May 13, 2001

ROCK legend Rod Stewart has spoken out about the impact on his life of Multiple Sclerosis, the disease which killed friend and former bandmate Ronnie Lane.

Lane, bass player alongside Stewart in the legendary British band The Faces, died in 1997 after a 20-year struggle against the disease.

Stewart, whose sister Peggy also died from MS, said: "It was heartbreaking. We mourned but we knew it was going to come. You don't escape that illness."

Stewart and Ronnie Wood, the Rolling Stone and former member of The Faces, paid for Lane's treatment as he succumbed to the disease.

"We all chipped in a fair bit towards keeping the last years of Ronnie's life as comfortable and as happy as we could," Stewart said.

Wood added: "Obviously you take care of someone if they are ill. If they're hurting for money and you've got some then you help."

In 1986, the members of The Faces reunited to play a concert to raise money for people with MS.

In 1986 Stewart organised a farewell concert for Lane at Wembley at which he appeared on stage in a wheelchair. He was 51 when he died.

Stewart's comments, made in a BBC documentary, come weeks after the author JK Rowling spoke out for the first time about her mother's death from MS.

Writing for Scotland on Sunday, the author spoke of her bitterness at the lack of care and treatment available for people with MS from the NHS - issues reinforced by this paper's campaign for awareness of the disease, continuing this week.