Vivian Campbell has confirmed that his cancer has come back. Speaking to Francisco Sigüenza of Radio YSKL FM in El Salvador, the Def Leppard guitarist revealed that the donor stem cell transplant he underwent in January 2025 — the procedure he described at the time as his only hope of a cure — didn’t hold.
He’s now on ongoing treatment to manage the disease and expects he’ll need a second donor transplant within a few years. It’s thirteen years since he was first diagnosed, and if you’re expecting him to sound defeated about it, you don’t know Vivian Campbell.
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What he actually said
The context here matters, because just thirteen months ago the news was very different.
In June 2025, Campbell told SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk that a PET scan in April had come back completely clean — that he was in full remission for the first time in twelve or thirteen years, and that you couldn’t ask for more than that. After a decade of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, combination therapies and a failed transplant using his own stem cells, the donor transplant had finally worked.
Now he’s confirmed it didn’t stick.
His account is straightforward. He’ll continue treatment to manage it. He’ll probably need another donor transplant within a few years to see whether that produces a cure. And in the meantime, he’s explicitly not slowing down.
There’s one moment in the interview where he drops his guard, and it’s about a different year entirely. He says there’s only been one time he genuinely believed the cancer would kill him — the winter of 2023, when he got scared about what was happening and how fast. That’s when he realised the donor transplant was his only option.
For a man who’s been public about this since 2013, that’s a rare admission.
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The approach that’s kept him going
The reason this interview is worth reading rather than just noting is what he says about how he’s handled it.
His view is that you have to keep moving forward, and that being able to keep working is what pulled him through the lowest points of treatment. Having something you’re passionate about to wake up for, he says, deflects attention away from focusing too much on the cancer.
He’s blunt about the alternative. He’s met people who received a diagnosis and let it become the only thing — deciding they couldn’t do anything, couldn’t eat this, couldn’t go there. He’s never felt that way. If anything, he says the diagnosis amplified his desire to tick every box and do the things he wanted to do.
He also credits early detection, and is careful to frame himself as fortunate rather than heroic. Catching it early is why it’s been about management rather than survival.
And then there’s the rally driving.
He’s taken it up properly, because he always wanted to. He loves cars, he loves driving, and as a kid he figured if he didn’t play guitar for a living he’d be a race car driver. At 63, in ongoing cancer treatment, fronting a guitar spot in one of the biggest rock bands on earth, he’s decided now is the time to go racing.
That tells you more about the man than any statement could.
Thirteen years, and a career that outlasted the diagnosis
The timeline is worth laying out, because the sheer duration of this is extraordinary.
He went public with the Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis in June 2013. Since then: three separate rounds of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant using his own cells that failed, the cancer returning repeatedly, spine surgery seven years ago, the crisis point in winter 2023, the donor transplant in January 2025 that forced him to miss Def Leppard’s first show of that year, remission in April 2025 — and now this.
Through all of it he’s continued to tour and record. Def Leppard were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in March 2019, fourteen years after first becoming eligible. Their most recent album, Diamond Star Halos, arrived in May 2022 — we covered the “Fire It Up” video when it landed. The band remain one of the biggest live draws in rock, with festival slots across the 2026 season.
He’s also kept Last In Line running — the band he formed in 2012 with Vinny Appice and the late Jimmy Bain out of the original Dio lineup — right through every round of treatment.
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The guitarist who played on Holy Diver
For anyone who knows him primarily as the Def Leppard guy, the earlier chapter is the one that made him.
Campbell was recruited to Dio in 1982, at twenty, and played on the first three albums: Holy Diver (1983), The Last In Line (1984) and Sacred Heart (1985). That’s the solo on the Holy Diver title track. That’s Rainbow In The Dark. He was a significant part of the run that made Ronnie James Dio a solo force and helped write the vocabulary of eighties heavy metal.
He left in 1987 over money, joined Whitesnake, and the fallout with Dio was famously bitter and never repaired — Wendy Dio has said she doubts the two would ever have made up even if Ronnie had lived.
There’s a hard irony in that, given Ronnie James Dio died of gastric cancer in 2010, and the Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund set up in his name has raised millions for cancer research since. Two men from the same band, the same fight, and a falling out that never got resolved.
Campbell joined Def Leppard in 1992, replacing Steve Clark after his death, and has now been in that band for thirty-four years — longer than most of the acts he came up alongside have existed.
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The part he wanted people to hear
He closed the interview with a message rather than a status update, and it’s the piece of this that deserves to travel furthest.
Life, he said, is for the living. He encouraged everyone to look after their own health. And to anyone unfortunate enough to receive a cancer diagnosis: get past the fear. Fear is inevitable when you first hear those words, but once you’re through it, the job becomes learning how to manage it and deal with it as best you can.
Don’t give in.
Thirteen years, and he’s still touring, still recording, still learning to race cars, and still telling other people to go get checked.
That’s the story.
TL;DR
- What’s happened: Vivian Campbell confirmed his cancer has returned. The donor stem cell transplant he underwent in January 2025 did not hold.
- Where it stands: he’s on ongoing treatment to manage the disease and expects he’ll need a second donor transplant within a few years.
- The context: in June 2025 he announced he was completely in remission for the first time in twelve or thirteen years, following an April PET scan that came back clean.
- The timeline: diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in June 2013. Three rounds of chemotherapy, a failed transplant with his own cells, spine surgery, and a crisis point in winter 2023 — the only time he says he believed it would kill him.
- His approach: he says continuing to work is what got him through the worst of treatment, and that the diagnosis increased rather than reduced his determination to do things. He’s now taken up rally driving.
- His message: look after your health, get past the fear of a diagnosis, and don’t give in.
FAQ
Does Vivian Campbell still have cancer?
Yes. In an interview published in August 2026, the Def Leppard guitarist confirmed that his cancer has returned after the donor stem cell transplant he received in January 2025 failed to hold. He is continuing treatment to manage the disease and anticipates needing a second donor transplant within a few years.
What kind of cancer does Vivian Campbell have?
Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He went public with the diagnosis in June 2013 and has undergone three separate rounds of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, combination therapies, a stem cell transplant using his own cells, and a donor stem cell transplant in the years since.
Is Vivian Campbell still in Def Leppard?
Yes. He joined in 1992, replacing the late Steve Clark, and has remained the band’s guitarist for thirty-four years — continuing to tour and record throughout his cancer treatment. He also fronts the side project Last In Line.
What did Vivian Campbell say about his diagnosis?
He said continuing to work is what helped him through the lowest points of treatment, giving him something to look forward to and deflecting attention away from the illness. He described the diagnosis as amplifying his desire to do the things he wants to do, and encouraged others to look after their health and to get past the fear that follows a diagnosis.
What bands has Vivian Campbell played in?
He came to prominence as the guitarist of Dio, playing on Holy Diver (1983), The Last In Line (1984) and Sacred Heart (1985). He has also played with Whitesnake, Riverdogs, Shadow King, Thin Lizzy and Sweet Savage, and has been Def Leppard’s guitarist since 1992. He co-founded Last In Line in 2012 with former Dio bandmates.
Thirteen years in, and the man is learning to rally drive. Send him some strength in the comments — and take his advice while you’re at it. Keep it locked on the Loaded Radio stream — follow Loaded Radio for daily rock and metal news.
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