Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed that he is once again fighting cancer. In an interview with El Salvadorian station YSKL, the 63-year-old musician discussed his philosophy for keeping a positive, hopeful attitude after revealing in 2013 that he was battle Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he said returned in 2015 and yet again recently.
“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” Campbell said of his diagnosis. “In the winter of 2023, I got really scared about what was happening and the pace at which it was happening. And I realized at that point that I had to do a donor transplant. It was my only hope to survive … I did that in January of ’25 .… Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. So the cancer has returned, and I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”
Campbell said he plans to try another transplant within the next few years with a different donor to see if that will stick, but in the meantime, he is going to keep performing with the “Rock of Ages” band as well as his side project, the Last in Line, and racing rally cars, a lifelong obsession. “I love cars and I love driving,” he said. “And as a child, I thought, ‘If I don’t play guitar for a living, I’m gonna be a race-car driver.’ So I’m very, very, very fortunate and blessed that I get to do both.”
The key, Campbell told the station, is to keep “moving forward” and stay busy. “And I do think that that’s what helped me, even when I was at a really low ebb with cancer treatment. The fact that I could still continue to work, that gives me something to live for, something that you enjoy, that you’re passionate about, that you can wake up in the morning and look forward to,” he explained. “I think that deflects, that takes away from focusing too much on cancer.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system and is highly treatable and often curable by using chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.
Campbell, who logged time in Ronnie James Dio’s band, Dio, as well as Whitesnake and the British new wave metal band Sweet Savage, joined Def Leppard in 1992 following the death of founding guitarist Steve Clark.
He observed that some people who get a diagnosis focus just on the cancer and nothing else, while he has been determined to keep living his life “as much as possible. In fact, even more so. After getting a cancer diagnosis, it amplifies that desire to tick all the boxes, to do the things you wanna do. But I also consider myself very fortunate because I caught my cancer early. So, it’s always been more about managing my cancer.”
Concluding with a message that “life is for the living,” Campbell, who was forced to miss some 2024 and 2025 shows due to health issues, said he just encourages everyone to keep an eye on their health. “And if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis to overcome the fear,” he said. “Fear is inevitable when you’re first told those words. But once you get over that, you gotta realize just how to manage it and how to deal with it as best as possible, and just don’t give in.”
Def Leppard are slated to play the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Fla. on Oct. 15, followed by dates in Mexico and Central and South America in October and November.
