John Tesh Reveals How His Wife Saved His Life After Rare Cancer Diagnosis (Exclusive)

John Tesh is opening up about his battle with cancer — and how his wife, Connie Sellecca, helped save his life by ensuring he got the proper care.

Speaking to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview, Tesh, 73, said that when he was “in the heat of” his cancer journey, his wife mentioned two friends who might be able to help.

It was 2015 when Tesh was diagnosed with stage III prostate cancer. His doctors believed that his tumors could be inoperable, and informed him that he may have only 18 months to live.

Undeterred, Tesh began doing his own research — ultimately finally finding an expert who was confident he could perform surgery. Following a successful radical prostatectomy, the composer thought the cancer might be behind him.

But in 2017, an MRI scan showed cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in his pelvis.

That’s when Connie had an idea.

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“She had met [these two friends] in New York when she was a model, like 52 years ago, and she kept in touch with them and so when I was at my wits’ end and couldn’t find the right treatment for this very rare form of prostate cancer, she contacted them and they said, ‘You gotta come here to MD Anderson,’ ” he explains.

While other hospitals he had visited were treating 50-100 cases like his, MD Anderson was treating over 1,000 — “they had more experience,” Tesh says.

Rather than just treating the cancer, he says, the facility and its physicians treat “the whole body.”

Currently, Tesh is monitoring the disease progression with his doctors at MD Anderson — and he recently spoke at a fundraiser for the organization, telling PEOPLE he feels he owes his life to the care he received.

For Tesh, the journey is akin to his own musical career — one that’s seen a resurgence of late as his iconic “Roundball Rock,” composed in 1990 for the NBA on NBC, is back on primetime.

“I wrote that song 35 years ago and then it went on the shelf for a while and then they came back … and said, ‘Hey John, we really like the nostalgia game here,'” he said.

So he re-recorded the song for use in 2025 NBA games. But as it turned out, the original remained the crowd favorite.

“The wild inside baseball story [behind] the song is that when I heard it was coming back, I went and recorded another version of it with a full orchestra and we tested it on social media,” he said. “And the fans said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, we want the OG version.’ So the version that you’re hearing now is the demo that I did in 1989.”

Tesh acknowledges that there’s an analogy to be made between his own health journey and the song’s resurgence, saying both he, and his famous song are “rising from the ashes.”

Tesh also released a new album — The Sports Album, billed as “a high-octane musical journey” featuring “iconic sports themes.”

Focusing on his music, participating in MD Anderson’s philanthropic campaign, Only Possible Here, The Campaign to End Cancer, and spending time with his three grandchildren, he says, help him to feel healthy and grounded. And his team of physicians, he adds, ensure that feeling lasts.

“I shouldn’t even be alive now,” Tesh tells PEOPLE. “I’m really grateful. This is a great place right now — this minute to be grateful.”