Friday, 29th November 2019
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DEF LEPPARD's VIVIAN CAMPBELL On Scheduling His Immunotherapy Treatments

Def Leppard 2019. By Chele Drappel

Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has been interviewed by the Northern Irish press and spoke about his health.

Vivian recently spoke to Garry Foster of 101.8 WCRF FM radio to promote the Last In Line album/tour.

In the interview mentioned earlier this week he talked about his current cancer treatments.

A new interview has also been published with the Belfast Telegraph but is subscription only.

Fortunately for anyone who wanted to read his main point he spoke about it in the radio interview.

Vivian explained that his monthly treatments are still working and that his tumours have not grown .

Last In Line play a UK tour show in Belfast tonight.

Listen to the full 24 minute interview below.

In the same interview Vivian seemingly revealed the >2020 tour announcement will take place next week.


Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).

Belfast Telegraph - Vivian Campbell Interview Quotes

"I had a bit of a wake-up call when I had a cancer diagnosis years ago and I'm still dealing with it," he says. "I still have to do infusions roughly every month to keep this cancer at bay.

"I've been doing immunotherapy which is part of the latest and greatest treatments. There's a bunch of new cancer treatments that have come up even in the last decade, particularly in the last five years.

"And one of them is the immunotherapy, there's several different drugs out there. I was part of a clinical trial for the first two years of a drug that is on the market now called Keytruda.


Garry Foster, 101.8 WCRF FM - Vivian Campbell Interview Quotes - (Transcribed by dltourhistory)

His Current Health

"I'm great with that thank you. I mean to be honest it's the least of my concerns and it always has been. Other than the first few months when they told me I had cancer. You know that's scary. You don't really know how to respond to it. But after a few months of that I looked at it very pragmatically. You know you have two choices in life with anything that's thrown at you. You can capitulate or you can pull your socks up and move on you know."

"But I've been very very fortunate that after a few failed chemotherapy attempts of different types of chemo. And I tried a Stem Cell transplant and that didn't work either. So it kept coming back and then I was fortunate that I got chosen for a clinical trial in the US for a new drug and I happen to be one of the people that responds very well. It's a drug called KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab). It's now on the market. And I believe it's one of the first drugs that was ever given to people for any kind of cancer that is dependent on a genetic marker that about a third of the population have ."

"I happen to be one of the third of the population that has the genetic marker that means that this drug kinda works for me. So the cancer's still there but it hasn't grown in almost four and a half years. I do these infusions about once a month. And it's just kind of holding everything in place and it's a very benign drug in terms of it's side effects. I mean compared to chemo it's nothing. So a little bit of fatigue and nausea, those sort of things. But certainly nothing by comparison to doing hardcore chemo."

"And to be honest really the hardest part of the treatment for the last four and a half years for me is scheduling, because I am so busy and I'm travelling all over the globe, is getting back to the States once a month to get an infusion. That's the difficult part. But that's a first world problem you know. So happy to take it."



Buy 'Last In Line II' Online


Buy Online

  • Vinyl Collection: Volume Two - Amazon (£177.27)
  • CD Collection: Volume Two - Amazon (£66.02)

Buy 'The Story So Far...The Best Of Def Leppard' Online

  • Amazon - (1CD Regular Edition - 17 Tracks)
  • Amazon - (2CD Deluxe Edition - 35 Tracks)
  • Amazon - (2LP Vinyl Edition)
  • Amazon - (MP3 Regular Edition - 17 Tracks)
  • Amazon - (MP3 Deluxe Edition - 35 Tracks)

Related News - VIVIAN CAMPBELL Seems To Reveal DEF LEPPARD Will Announce 2020 Tour Next Week

Related News - DEF LEPPARD/VIVIAN CAMPBELL May Not Be Playing Shows In April 2020

Related News - JOE ELLIOTT Says DEF LEPPARD Hope To Continue Playing Big Stadium/Arena Shows

Related News - DEF LEPPARD 2020 Tour w/ MÖTLEY CRÜE/POISON Announced Within Days

Related News - DEF LEPPARD To Announce 2020 U.S. Stadium Tour w/ MÖTLEY CRÜE/POISON

Related News - (DEF LEPPARD 2020 TOUR NEWS UPDATE) Huge North American Tour Being Planned


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