Def Leppard guitarist Viv Campbell went under the knife last week and has spent the past few days resting with an ice pack on his back to aid his recovery, but is determined to push through with his upcoming scheduled performances nonetheless.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation, he said: “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.
“It’s gonna be difficult for me to do these next couple of weeks’ worth of [Def Leppard and Last in Line] 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.”
Campbell hasn’t had the best of luck with his health over the years as back in 2013 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is now trying to manage the condition.
He explained: “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.”
Asked if his cancer iwill ever fully go into remission or if it’s something that he will have to manage for the rest of his life, he explained: “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 [being] 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.”
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