DEF LEPPARD guitarist Vivian Campbell says that he is “completely in remission for the first time” after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2013.
The veteran British rockers played their first concert of 2025 on January 18 at Feria Estatal De León in León, Mexico. As was the case with the band’s October 14, 2024 private show in Nashville (as part of the Daimler Truck Customer Appreciation Event),Vivian was unable to join his bandmates at the León gig and was replaced by John Zocco, who is Phil Collen‘s guitar tech. Campbell has since rejoined DEF LEPPARD on the road and played with his bandmates in May in San Juan, Puerto Rico and at the Boardwalk Rock festival in Ocean City, Maryland.
Campbell offered an update on his health during a June 11 appearance on SiriusXM‘s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’ve been very lucky, actually. I got an early diagnosis for Hodgkin’s lymphoma 13 years ago, 12 years ago, something like that. [I went] through the mill with all sorts of chemo and immunotherapy and combination therapies, and 10 years ago I did an autologous stem cell transplant, which means using my own stem cells. That didn’t work. The cancer kept coming back, and then a couple of years ago, it really got bad. So it was the first time in having to deal with it that I was seriously concerned about it. And the doctors told me really my only chance for of cure was to do a donor transplant. And that’s exactly what I did. Starting last summer during our tour, I started doing more chemo in preparation for it. And then right after the tour, they started giving me very hardcore chemo leading up to the transplant. I was supposed to start after Thanksgiving, and I lost my donor 10 days beforehand. So that was a kick in the nuts. But I was very fortunate that they found me another one in December. And on New Year’s Eve, I went into hospital. I was in for about three and a half weeks, and I did what has turned out to be a really, really successful transplant. So I did a PET scan in the middle of April and I’m a hundred percent clean, completely in remission for the first time in 12 or 13 years. And I am obviously overjoyed. You couldn’t ask for more than that.”
Campbell went on to say that he “had an incredible donor. There are 10 genetic markers, and this donor was a 10 out of 10,” he explained. “A young man, actually. I don’t get to know who he is for a couple of years, but a 21-year-old man. And they always prefer a youthful donor. Obviously, I’m gonna buy him a beer — or two or three.”
Asked why a 21-year-old man would volunteer to donate bone marrow, Vivian said: “Why, indeed. I mean, it’s just a testament to some strange guy’s character. He decided to put his name on the registry, the donor registry, for no reason other than he’s a good person. So there are a lot of good people out there, I’m glad to say.
“The transplant, actually, given its proper, clever medical term, is allogeneic hematopoietic [stem cell] transplant,” Campbell added. “I have no idea what that means other than it means a donor transplant. But the process for the donor, if it were a family member, they’d probably be willing to undergo the complete surgery required to use actual bone marrow. With strangers, they use enriched stem cell blood. But what the donor has to do is still very, very involved. They’ve gotta take this stuff called Neupogen for about a week or a week and a half prior to donating the material. And Neupogen is pretty hardcore. I’ve done it myself about 10 years ago, and it generates your stem cell growth in the bone marrow itself. And it causes a lot of discomfort and bone pain. So it’s not for nothing that somebody would do that. It is a pretty heavy lift, and I’m just glad there are some great people in the world.”
Regarding what the process of receiving a bone marrow transplant entailed for him, Vivian said: “It essentially comes down to a blood transfusion. After the first week in the hospital, you get chemo every day and then a day of radiation and then on day seven, they actually do the transplant and then a day off after that to just recover and then two more days of chemo and just a week or three of sickness as your body fights this stuff. And it’s not pleasant to go through it at all, but I would do it a hundred times more if I got the same results.”
Asked why he can’t contact the 21-year-old man who gave him his bone marrow for a couple years, Campbell said: “They just like to keep it anonymous. After two years, they give you the option to contact your donor, so you can reach out to them. I would imagine in this day and age it’s via e-mail, and if they wanna correspond with you, they can, but they don’t have to. But obviously, it’s a life-saving proposition, so I’d certainly wanna express my gratitude.”
When host Eddie Trunk noted that Campbell has had a remarkably positive attitude throughout his more-than-a-decade-long battle with cancer, Vivian said: “My glass has always been half full. I’ve always looked at life that way, and I also believe you play the hand you’re dealt. And in any situation in life, there’s really only two ways you can respond to something: you can go as positive as possible or go as negative as possible. To be honest, as it relates to cancer, I’ve unfortunately known a bunch of people who have gotten the cancer diagnosis and have chosen to be very gloomy and pessimistic in their outlook towards their prognosis, and it usually follows that route. I mean, what you put out in the universe is usually what you get back. So I just like to deal with it. Plus every cloud has a silver lining. I actually do think that my health has benefited from this. I mean, my health has been extremely closely monitored for the last 12 or 13 years and will continue to be for at least a couple more years. So I’ve lost, myself, so many friends in recent years. Even thinking about [my side band] LAST IN LINE, we lost [original LAST IN LINE bassist] Jimmy Bain to cancer. We lost our manager, Steve Strange, to cancer. Both of those guys — Jimmy never even actually got a diagnosis. It was only after the fact, in the autopsy, it was determined he had lung cancer. Steve Strange, our LAST IN LINE manager, died within two, two and a half years of getting his diagnosis, because so many people, unfortunately, don’t get diagnosed until they’re stage four or something. I was very, very fortunate that I knew something was going on with me and I kept at my doctors. I said, ‘Look, something’s going on here. You’ve gotta give me an X-ray. You’ve gotta give me a CAT scan. You’ve gotta figure this out.’ And when they eventually did, about a year and a half after I’d begun to pester them, ’cause it was a solid 18 months that I knew something was wrong with, and it was a solid 18 months before they actually put me in touch with the right people and I got my diagnosis. So I was fortunate that I caught it early. And I do strongly advocate for people to be advocates for their own health.”
He added: “Doctors are very, very clever — they go to med med school for a long time, and they’re very well trained, but they’re not inside your actual body. Only we really know what’s going on with us. And I would urge anyone out there listening, if they think there’s something going with their body to go see their doctor, and trust the science, trust the medicine. And it’s absolutely amazing what they can do.”
Campbell — who before joining DEF LEPPARD in 1992 was well known for his work with DIO and WHITESNAKE — went public with his Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis in June 2013.
Vivian underwent three separate spells of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant, only for his Hodgkin’s lymphoma to return.
Six years ago, Campbell underwent spine surgery.
Vivian and his DEF LEPPARD bandmates were finally inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2019 — 14 years after the British rockers first became eligible.
DEF LEPPARD‘s latest album, “Diamond Star Halos”, arrived in May 2022 via UMe.
