Def Leppard’s Vivian Campbell Update On His Battle With Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell updated fans on his health and talked about his Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he’s been battling for 10 years.

He said it’s like “Whack-a-mole. You beat something back and then it pops up somewhere else. But it’s been a pretty consistent battle, but it hasn’t been too difficult for me.”

About 8 years ago he started doing immunotherapy and taking a drug called pembrolizumab. as part of a clinical trial and says it has worked well for him. And about once a month until just last year, he would get infusions. About that, he said, “Honestly, the hardest part was scheduling with all my travel.”

At the end of July, he started six cycles of combination therapy of a chemodrug called brentuximab and an immunotherapy drug called nivolumab. And other than losing his hair, he said “So far, so good.”

He gave the medical update during a podcast called Lymphoma Voices, it’s a series to help people and their family and friends that live with cancer.