Def Leppard's Vivian Campbell Undergoes Surgery

Michael Angulia | 10-15-2019

Def Leppard and Last In Line guitarist Vivian Campbell underwent spinal surgery earlier this month, as he continues to receive treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Campbell appeared on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" last week (Oct. 9th) and was asked about his health. He responded, "My back is the issue at the moment. I did spine surgery last Wednesday, so I'm sitting here with an ice pack and a back brace on. So I'm a little concerned about that. It's gonna be difficult for me to do these next couple of weeks' worth of shows.

"I'm gonna be moving very slowly. But I know that I can get on stage and I can play guitar and I can sing, so that's all I need to do. It'll be the travel in between that's gonna be extremely uncomfortable.

"As far as the cancer, I'm just doing these infusions. I go back to City Of Hope tomorrow and get another infusion. And that'll keep me right for another three to four weeks. It's just maintenance. It's all good as far as I'm concerned."

In a follow-up question, he was asked if his cancer could go into full remission and he answered, "Right now, it's just holding, and has been for four years. So I'm very fortunate that I caught my cancer early enough to where this is okay to keep it in this holding pattern. So until something else comes along.

"The technology is moving at a furious pace, there's so many new cancer treatments and alternative treatments coming to light year after year. The treatment that I'm on, in fact, I was part of a clinical trial of that, that's relatively new.

"So I'm very fortunate that way, that I caught it early and I happen to be a good candidate for this particular treatment and it's a good place holder. So it doesn't really have any impact on my life other than scheduling and a little bit tired for a few days around the infusions.

"But right now it's kind of slid to second place on the complaints list because of the back surgery. So that's my more pressing concern."