Def Leppard’s Campbell Avoids Radiation, Will Rejoin Summer Tour
Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell, who recently announced that the cancer he has been battling for the last two years had returned again, has now revealed he will be able to avoid radiation treatment and will in fact be able to join his bandmates for almost all of their planned summer tour.
The former Dio guitarist's doctors have been able to work out a treatment schedule that will allow him to rejoin Def Leppard's summer tour with Styx and Tesla starting Saturday, June 27 in Birmingham, Alabama. The U.S. leg of that trek begins tomorrow night (June 23) in Tampa, Florida – which would mean that Campbell would only miss two shows. It is suspected, though not confirmed, that Trixter guitarist Steve Brown will stand in on guitar on these dates – a role he filled when Campbell had to miss part of the group's 2014 tour.
Here is Campbell's full statement, as posted on his Facebook page:
So, so happy to report that I've dodged the bullet of radiation. I was due to start a course that would have sidelined me for most of the first leg of the US tour, but my brilliant doctors have steered me towards an alternative course of treatment that will enable me to rejoin the tour this Saturday night in Birmingham Alabama. Furthermore, they've tailored future treatments to accommodate the tour schedule so I won't have to miss any more shows.
I'm so happy and so indebted to the wonderful physicians who have worked so hard on my behalf to make this happen.
See you Saturday!
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