Jessie J Returns to Stage Following Breast Cancer Surgery

Jessie J‘s two-year-old son got to see his mom perform live for the first time on Saturday (Sept. 6). The singer returned to the stage, and brought Sky along, at BBC Radio 2 in the Park in Essex, England, after undergoing her first round of surgery to treat breast cancer over the summer; she’ll have a second surgery in the fall, a procedure she says is “nothing too serious” but conflicts with her now-postponed fall tour.

“Some of you may know, some of you may not know, but I had breast cancer surgery 11 weeks ago today,” Jessie J told the crowd at Saturday’s concert in Chelmsford, Essex, the Daily Mail reports.

“And the last show I did, I had no idea what was gonna happen, and I’m still very much in the recovery process,” she shared from the stage.

“But I’m just so grateful to be here,” said the singer. “You have no idea how grateful I am to see so many of you singing along after all these years. It truly feels like I’m a little kid. Still doing what I love.”

“And another special thing that’s happening today is that my son is seeing me sing on stage for the first time,” she added, according to the Daily Mail. Headphones on to protect his ears, two-year-old Sky even got to go up to the mic to say hello and sing “Happy Birthday” to anyone in the crowd who happened to be celebrating a birthday, fan video footage from the concert shows.

Ahead of her first surgery, Jessie J revealed in June that she’d received an “early breast cancer” diagnosis back in April.

Six weeks after surgery, she returned to the hospital with symptoms that turned out to be the result of an infection. In July, she underwent tests that showed the cancer had not spread and shared an emotional message thanking her fans for their prayers and positive energy.

As part of her performance on Saturday, Jessie J performed new song “Living My Best Life” and explained the story behind the track.

“I was diagnosed literally two weeks before this song was released,” she said. “Everyone said, ‘Let’s stop, let’s just put everything on hold,’ and I said, ‘That’s not what life’s about.’”

“Life is about standing in the storm but holding up your umbrella and just keep moving forward,” she said. “And music, I don’t know about you guys, but for me, music is a healer. Music is the thing that keeps me wanting to wake up in the morning and just makes me excited about life. And I’m grateful that I can make music that can give other people something that they might need on a hard day or a good day. So this song is called ‘Living My Best Life,’ and that is what I’m doing every single damn day. ‘Cause we never know when our last day will be. So soak this up, hug the people you love hard.”