Eddie Montgomery Has His Son to Thank for His Early Cancer Diagnosis

Eddie Montgomery, one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, told fans last November that he was battling prostate cancer. Surprisingly, the singer credits a four-wheeler accident his son had late last year as his savior, since this is what prompted the country star to see a doctor. Luckily, the doctors caught Montgomery's cancer at an early stage, allowing him to make a full recovery.

When Montgomery's son smashed his shoulder in an ATV accident, he took him to see a bone specialist. The country star tells Country Weekly, "I'd been trying to exercise, get back to losing weight again, and was there talking to the bone specialist telling him how I'd been hurting in my hip." When the doctor took an X-ray of Montgomery's hip, he saw a shadow and told  to go see him to go see a urologist immediately.

Even though his dad, Harold Montgomery, died of prostate cancer when he was 52, Eddie Montgomery never thought he could be next. He grew up poor and says they didn't go to the doctor unless they really had to. When the urologist told him he had cancer, Montgomery couldn't believe it, telling WYKT, "Not me, no way."

The singer had surgery to remove the tumor last December. His doctor Thomas Kirk Slabaughn Jr. commented, "His cancer was completely excised, and he will not require further treatment for his prostate cancer in the future. Mr. Montgomery has benefited greatly from early detection of prostate cancer with PSA screening."

Montgomery was officially proclaimed free from cancer this past January. He is now spreading the message to all men to not be afraid about going to see a doctor for an annual prostate exam.

Montgomery Gentry recently signed with Average Joe's Entertainment and a new single should be out sometime this spring. Their next gig is the Operation Yellow Ribbon Concert in Nashville on March 29.