Louis Tomlinson’s dad has been diagnosed with liver cancer

Troy - who split from Johanna when their One Direction star son was just a baby - hopes the surgery, which removed a cancerous tumour from his liver, has been able to save his life.

He said: “The staff have been brilliant. The doctors are amazing and the nurses are hilarious, they really lift your spirits every day. The NHS might get criticised in some quarters but I have had a great service.”

Troy, 49, believes his cancer was caused by his smoking and drinking habits, and has said he feels lucky to have caught the disease early, as it increases his chances of survival.

He added: “I believe my tumour was down to drinking and smoking. I can’t blame it on anything else.

“Each day I was smoking up to 25 cigarettes and drinking six to eight cans of Tyskie, a Polish lager.?“And my diet was terrible. It was Chinese and Indian takeaways and a lot of chips.

“Some days I wouldn’t eat at all but would just drink and smoke. I would drink to celebrate the good times and drink to cope with the bad. Whatever life threw at me I would drink.

“And there was stress. The stress of my mum dying in March last year and my dog Okee died five days before Christmas.

“I had lived with him for 14 years and anyone who has had a dog will know how hard that has been.

“I am just so happy that I was diagnosed early.”

The ‘Back To You’ hitmaker hasn’t been in touch with his dad for many years, but Troy says he’d he “happy” to “make contact” with his son, as well as with his own father Harry Austin.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: “My life is changing now. I’m starting another chapter and I’d love for that to involve my dad. As for Louis, if he ever wanted to make contact then I would be happy for that to happen."