Irish dancing legend Michael Flatley has vowed to beat his cancer diagnosis, stating that he is "optimistic" about the future.
Flatley said in January that he had undergone surgery for an "aggressive" form of cancer having previously overcome a battle with melanoma in the early 2000s.
In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Flatley gave an update about his condition and said he was optimistic about overcoming cancer for a second time.
Michael Flatley, 65, said it was a "punch of the solar plexus" when he was diagnosed with cancer in January but vowed to fight the disease.
"It’s a long hard road. I’m not going to lie. I’ve already made up my mind: I’m on the other side of that wall. I will not be defeated," Flatley told the Irish Examiner.
"Somehow or other I will beat this. I’ve beaten cancer before, I’ll beat it again.
"One of the ways I do that is I thank God every day for what I already have in my life. When God rings the bell, I’ll know it’s time to go."
However, he vowed to "keep punching" until the very end.
It is not clear what type of cancer Flatley has been diagnosed with, but the Irish dancing legend has previously been open about his battle with melanoma after his diagnosis in 2003.
"I will never forget it," he told BBC Radio 2 in 2015.
"I was in the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills and the doctor called to say he had bad news, that it was a malignant melanoma.
"I said: 'But that’s not that serious. It’s not life-threatening, surely?'
"He told me to get straight in my car and come to see him as he needed to operate there and then.
"I thought: ‘This is going to be it. I could die.' You don’t forget that.
"In the end, the operation was successful. I have to go every now and again to have little spores removed but I’m okay."
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