Cher forced to cancel 29 concerts despite performing on Farewell Tour with heart monitor

CHER has been forced to cancel the final 29 concerts of her Dressed to Kill farewell tour, despite a brave bid to return to the stage wearing a heart monitor.

Cher performs during tourGETTY

Cher has been forced to cancel farewell tour

Cher was yesterday forced to cancel the final 29 concerts of her Dressed to Kill farewell tour, despite a brave bid to return to the stage wearing a heart monitor.

The music icon, 68, was struck by a potentially deadly viral infection in September and tweeted at the time to fans: “I’m so sorry. I don’t cancel unless I can’t get up. This virus is a killer.”

She had planned to return to the road next month wearing a device to monitor her heart rate but has been told by doctors this would be unwise. In a statement yesterday she said she was “devastated,” adding: “Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I sincerely hope we can come back again next year and finish what we started.”

A later tweet by the If I Could Turn Back Time legend referred to her “gut-wrenching sadness of not being able to go on stage”.

Cher is particularly susceptible to infections since being diagnosed in 1986 with Epstein-Barr syndrome, an energy-sapping condition that can severely weaken the immune systems of sufferers.

At the time, the actress and singer, one of only a handful of performers to have won an Oscar, a Grammy and an Emmy award, declared: “I was so sick I thought I was going to die.”

Two years ago, she was again felled by a nerve condition, tweeting of that health setback: “Pain intense. Can’t sleep. Roll over and OUCH!”

She is said to have been “absolutely shaken” by the latest viral infection and her spokeswoman said: “It affected her kidneys, which has delayed her recovery time and doctors advised her to extend her rest period.”

The spokeswoman also confirmed: “Cher has been wearing a 24-hour heart monitor. This is to ensure she continues her recovery.”

Her 29 cancelled concerts include shows in New York, Boston, Chicago and Toronto.

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