Rush drummer Neil Peart took a photo in May 2018 nearly 2 years after getting brain cancer, and he had noticeably lost weight. A photo posted of Neil Peart with an A-list actress and singer also was resurfaced.
Lorne Gump Wheaton tweeted on May 29, 2018, “Lunch date in SoCal today. Always good hanging with the boss.”
Walt White posted on TheRushForum.com, “In the summer of last year, on the 4th year anniversary of when I last saw Rush on the R40 stop in Philly, after reminiscing on my memories that day, I went to Neil’s site on a whim. I hadn’t been listening to as much Rush the past couple years, though I’d been slowly making my way through a couple of Neil’s books.
I remembered binging his blogs and book reviews on his site back in about 2014-2015 and, in the absence of any new content from the Rush guys, thought ‘hey, Neil has probably been writing on his site this whole time. Maybe he’s even got a new book coming out.’ I was…not shocked…but surprised that he seemed to not have any entries on the site since about mid-2016. It seemed off, especially for a guy who always checked in pretty regularly (We know now that his battle with cancer started 3.5 years ago, roughly mid 2016 when the posts stopped).
2016 was also the year of his last book chronicling the R40 tour, but 3 years had passed. Even if he was a retired author as well as a retired drummer, surely he’d pop in and write a little something on there? I remember not quite being concerned, but definitely curious. Him being sick never came to mind. I had seen a photo of him from early 2018 where he had become one of a few people to visit all of the islands of a particular island chain or something. And he looked normal and healthy. Today I saw a photo from October 2018 where he looked noticeably gaunt. If I had dug deeper into Neil’s absence that day last year and discovered that photo then, I definitely would have been worried.
Instead, I explained it off that he was retired in the full sense of the word, and was a full time father and husband, with the book writing and drumming left behind. Between that day and the news of his passing, I’d get the usual recurring, ‘hmm I wonder what the Rush guys are up to?’ thought. I’d picture Geddy and Alex working on a secret music project, and I’d picture Neil content with life, teaching his daughter to appreciate the finer things and drinking wine with his wife. I like to think that despite the cancer, he made the most of life as much as he could throughout his 3.5 year battle.
This still doesn’t seem real. I haven’t posted on here since R40 ended, but I felt the need to come back and mourn with fellow fans.” John Lennon’s son revealed a Neil Peart ‘teen boy’ story a few days ago.
Lunch date in SoCal today. Always good hanging with the boss. pic.twitter.com/OrSCjgEtzW
— Lorne”Gump”Wheaton (@Lornewheaton) May 29, 2018
