01:59 PM PDT on Thursday, June 15, 2006

By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

Sharon Osbourne is the world's most famous heavy metal mom, but this star and executive producer of her family's highly rated reality show got a huge dose of reality herself a couple of years ago.

"I never go to the doctor ever and Ozzy was just pleading with me to go to the doctor, you've got to go, do you swear, and he was like a Chinese water torture … and the blood tests came back that my blood count was very low and I must be bleeding from somewhere and then they had to go in and do some more testing and they found out that it was cancer in my colon," said Sharon.

"My illness obviously has changed me. You know you can't go through something like this without it having some affect on you. The first time I was diagnosed it was like 'Oh God … Please don't let me die' and that's everybody's reaction when they get really, really bad news," she said. "I think everybody says 'Oh God, Oh God, please don't let me die' and it's amazing that we all do it, but yet we're all not religious."

KING

Sharon Osbourne battled colon cancer and is now in remission.

"I don’t follow any particular religion but I am respectful of all … whatever turns you on whatever makes you feel good."

Her illness may not have impacted her religious faith, but it did strengthen her faith in humanity.

"It’s no fun to have cancer and go through chemo … and you know all the side effects and whatever, but also too, I’ve realized how nice people are and how nice people have been to me and people who I don’t even know have written me and sent me things and it’s amazing because you think generally everybody’s full of (bleep) and everybody’s a hustler …but they’re not. And it’s been so overwhelming to me the letters that I get from people and their good wishes and their prayers, it’s, you know people are pretty damn good," she said. "And my kids too and my husband they're all great."

"When I found out it was like someone stabbed me in the chest," said Sharon's daughter Kelly.

"You think it could never come into your family but when it does it's just a really big shock," said son Jack.

"Ozzy was in detox so he wasn't his strongest," said Sharon.

"My heart was breaking. I put on a brave face, but when you've got a broken heart because someone you love has gotten sick, you can't pretend not to have a broken heart," said Ozzy.

"He just kept saying you can't leave me. I'm like 'I'm not going anywhere. No one's getting rid of me. I ain't ready yet,'" said Sharon.

Sharon had surgery at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles to remove a foot of her colon and some surrounding lymph nodes.

That was 2 1/2 year ago. She's currently in remission. Sharon credits her speedy recovery to her doctors, her friends, her family, and let's not forget her sense of humor.

"I'm not ready to croak yet … and definitely not with a wig on!" she said.