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"Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord has thanked fans for their support as he continues to battle cancer. The musician announced earlier this month that he was taking a hiatus from live performing in order to undergo treatment for an unspecified form of cancer. Lord has now declared that the outpouring of love from Deep Purple&amp;#039;s fans has been overwhelming. He wrote on his blog: &amp;quot;Your responses to the news of my condition have touched my heart in a way that has truly helped to make my life a better place to be than it had occasionally threatened to become these last few weeks. &amp;quot;Your wonderful messages wishing me strength and courage have given me even more strength and courage - and so much more than you can ever know.&amp;quot; Lord continued: &amp;quot;I read many of them with tears in my eyes, grateful for this cast-iron proof of the innate goodness of the human being, and grateful to every single one of you for your invaluable support.&amp;quot; Lord also said that his cancer treatment is going well, adding that he is &amp;quot;confident&amp;quot; he will survive the disease. The rocker first joined in 1967 and played on well-known tracks such as &amp;#039;Smoke On The Water&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;Demon&amp;#039;s Eye&amp;#039;. Lord retired from Deep Purple in 2002, but has performed with the group on select dates in recent years. &amp;gt; Deep Purple top guitar riffs poll Watch Deep Purple perform &amp;#039;Demon&amp;#039;s Eye&amp;#039; below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a338066/deep-purples-jon-lord-fans-are-getting-me-through-cancer-treatment/>