Def Leppard and Last in Line guitarist Vivian Campbell says that his cancer has returned.
Campbell was first diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013, and announced in 2025 that he was “completely in remission” after undergoing a donor transplant.
Now though, in a new interview with Francisco Sigüenza of Radio YSKL FM in El Salvador, Campbell revealed that the transplant “didn’t stick.”
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“There’s only been one time that I felt it was gonna kill me,” Campbell said in the interview [transcribed by Blabbermouth]. “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. And that’s what I did.
“I did that in January of 2025. I did a donor transplant. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. So the cancer has returned. And I’m continuing treatments to manage it.”
Campbell says he’s facing the development head on, and has no intention of pulling back from his creative endeavors.
“I’ll probably have to do another transplant within a few years with another donor to try and see if maybe that would cure me,” he said. “But in the meantime, I’m certainly not slowing down. I’m doing as much with my life as possible, not just with Def Leppard and Last In Line – I’m also rally driving, ’cause I always wanted to do that. So I’ve been doing that more and more, ’cause I love cars and I love driving.”
“Life is for the living,” he added. “And I encourage everyone to look after their own health – and if you are unfortunate enough to get a cancer diagnosis, to overcome the fear. 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.”
Asked about his cancer treatment in a 2019 Guitar World interview, Campbell struck a similarly determined note.
“It’s difficult with touring, but I’ve been doing immunotherapy for the last three-and-a-half years,” he said at the time. “Even when it was at its worst it was the least of my concerns. I’m stubborn and Irish and refuse to capitulate to cancer. I’ve never been so busy, and I fill every day with work. It makes me happy and my body responds to it. I believe that’s helped me survive it.”
