Confusion over Aslan singer's health as conflicting reports come out

Following a weekend news report in The Irish Sun, which claimed that Christy Dignam's cancer had returned, the singer took to the radio this morning to tell Today FM's Ian Dempsey that reports about his ill health were an "exaggeration" and that "There's no emergency happening because I'm dancing."

He went on to further clarify: "The thing is my bloods fluctuate every so often. They go up and they go down so they went up last week but they could go down again this week. You wouldn't know."

But immediately after this, Irish Sun journalist Ken Sweeney - who conducted the interview with Christy and first published the article about his ill health yesterday - took to Twitter to produce an audio recording of his conversation with Christy, wherein the singer said: "The cancer's back at the moment."

When asked by Mr. Sweeney when the cancer returned, Christy said: "Last week."

You can listen to the recording here:

Audio Christy Dignam "my cancer is back". https://t.co/eeM98B67jo @IanDempsey any chance R/T #Aslan ?

— Ken Sweeney (@KenSweeney) June 12, 2017

Christy, who is one of Irish music's most iconic figures, was first diagnosed in 2013 with a rare blood cancer called Amyloidosis.

The Aslan singer underwent chemotherapy over in London at the time, but was told that it would only keep the cancer at bay for approximately five years or so at the most.

And in the Irish Sun on Sunday yesterday, Christy was quoted as saying: "It was the worst news I could get, that this negative protein is growing inside my body.

"All I can do now is more chemo but I'm not confident. Your blood develops an immunity to treatment so there's no guarantee it's going to work."

He added, "So many people have died in the past few years like the great journalist George Byrne, and David Bowie. I consider these people the life and times of Aslan. If they're gone, maybe I should be gone too."

In an in-depth interview with Hot Press last October, Christy Dignam bravely spoke about fighting this terrible illness. He revealed to us for the first time ever to anybody - including his own family, band mates or friends - that he would seriously contemplate euthanasia if doctors told him that he only had a short time left to live.

"But definitely, I would consider that. Why put yourself through that, if there's no hope?" He courageously revealed to Hot Press at the time.

"If you're at a point where there's no hope and you're in absolute fucking agony – why make your last couple of months a fucking unpleasant experience? Get out of it."

Despite his illness, Christy has kept himself busy. He is working on an new album with Finbar Fury. The two musicians decided to record some songs together after their brilliant performance of 'Green Fields of France' on 'The Late Late Show' back in January went viral with over 1 million-plus views so far on YouTube.