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Vivian Campbell Says His Cancer Has Returned After Failed Donor Transplant

An August interview with El Salvador’s YSKL FM revealed his January 2025 donor stem‑cell transplant failed to engraft; he is receiving treatment and another donor transplant is likely within a few years.

Overview

  • In an August 2026 interview with YSKL FM, Campbell confirmed that his Hodgkin’s lymphoma has returned after a donor stem‑cell transplant he received in January 2025 failed to engraft.
  • Campbell says he is undergoing treatment now to manage the disease and told the interviewer that a second donor transplant may be needed within a few years to try to achieve a cure.
  • He described the transplant failure as a reversal of the remission he announced in mid‑2025 and traced the urgency for the 2025 donor transplant to rapid disease progression in winter 2023.
  • Campbell emphasized he will continue performing with Def Leppard and his side project Last In Line and pursue personal interests such as rally driving while receiving care.
  • Hodgkin’s lymphoma treatment can include chemotherapy, immunotherapy and donor stem‑cell transplants; engraftment failure means the donor cells did not establish in the patient’s bone marrow and typically prompts further treatments or another donor search.