Barry Manilow Cancer Crisis

Campy crooner Barry Manilow made it through the rain, but he might not make it through a sudden devastating downturn in his health!

Decades of sucking down cigarettes and reefer have caught up to the “Mandy” man, and The National ENQUIRER has exclusively learned that he’s now facing a cancer crisis.

“Barry’s health has been severely compromised,” a source close to the tunesmith told The ENQUIRER. “He’s battling multiple major issues that could drastically shorten his life — even end it — and it’s all tied to his ongoing, incessant smoking.”

The sad news comes after Barry, 74, was forced to cancel a number of shows in May. As an explanation to disappointed fans, he chalked up his vanishing act to “sprained” vocal cords. While he managed to drag himself out of his sickbed to perform at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, N.Y., he appeared worryingly thin and frail, his voice at times nothing more than a raspy croak.

The source that snitched on Barry’s dire condition is backed up by medical experts, who agree that the concert cancellations raise troubling red flags. "Cigarette smoke is carcinogenic — this has been known for 50 years,” warned Dr. Stuart Fischer, The ENQUIRER’s chief medical correspondent, who has not treated Barry. “Barry is playing with fire.”

Dr. Gabe Mirkin, who has not seen Barry as a patient, echoed this opinion, telling The ENQUIRER: “Cigarette smoking damages every organ in the body and kills more than half a million Americans each year.”

Dr. Mirkin, author of “The Healthy Heart Miracle,” also noted, “Smoking has already destroyed many of Barry’s cilia, so his bronchial tubes are no doubt now full of mucous blocking the flow of air in and out of his lungs. With continued smoking, he will have so much mucus blocking his bronchial tubes that he will be at increased risk for smothering to death.”

The insidious strength of Barry’s addiction became abundantly clear after his heart-attack scare in October, 2015. The singer suffered from such extreme palpitations at his Palm Springs, Calif., home, he reportedly had to be airlifted to a Los Angeles medical center!

Yet while he survived, he was unable to quit smoking. And it’s not just tobacco that has a hold on the openly gay entertainer, pictured here with former pot-smoker Dave Grohl. “Barry not only smokes regular cigarettes, but also e-cigarettes and marijuana,” the insider revealed. “All his friends have urged him to stop many times and he always says he will, but then he’ll sneak smokes when no one is looking.”

Summed up the source: “Barry’s been hooked for so long, it’s only a matter of time until it catches up to him!”