Originally Posted by kandah

In July 1966, Marley was found to have a wound on his right big toe, which he thought was from a football (soccer) injury. The wound would not completely heal, and his toenail later fell off during a football game. It was then that the correct diagnosis was made. Marley actually had a form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma, which grew under his toenail.

Marley was advised to get his toe amputated, but he refused because of his Rastafarian beliefs that the body must be whole, that to have an amputation would be a sin, that his faith would ensure him living forever regardless of the cancer and because he saw medical doctors as samfai, confidence men who cheat the gullible by pretending to have the power of witchcraft. He also was concerned about the impact the operation would have on his dancing; amputation would profoundly affect his career at a time when greater success was close at hand. Still, Marley based this refusal on his Rastafarian beliefs, saying, "Rasta no abide amputation. I don't allow a mon ta be dismantled." (Catch a Fire, Timothy White) He did have surgery to try to excise the cancer cells. The cancer was kept secret from the wider public until 1991.

The cancer spread to his brain, his lungs and his stomach. During the Uprising Tour in the fall of 1980, Marley collapsed while jogging in NYC's Central Park. He had recently played two shows at Madison Square Garden. He was unable to continue with the tour. Bob Marley played his final concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 23 September, 1980; the live version of "Redemption Song" on Songs of Freedom was recorded at this show.[1] Marley sought help, and decided to go to Munich in order to receive treatment from cancer specialist Josef Issels for several months, but the cancer had already progressed to the terminal stage.

Marley wanted to spend his final days in Jamaica but he became too ill on the flight home from Germany and the plane was forced to land in Miami so that he could receive immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami, Florida on 11 May , 1981. His final words to his son Ziggy were, "Money can't buy life." Bob Marley received the honor of a State funeral in Jamaica. It was a dignified funeral with combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari. He is buried in a crypt at Nine Miles, near his birthplace, with his Gibson guitar, a bud of marijuana and a Bible. A month before his death, he was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.