In a recent interview with Irish Times, Dave Mustaine shared his feelings about his battle with cancer and expressed how he was worried about what late Van Halen icon Eddie Van Halen had been through.
Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer in May 2019 and had to take a break from his stage life to receive treatment. During this hiatus, Dave began a lengthy treatment process and received multiple sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The frontman completed his treatment in October 2019. For the first time in 15 months after Dave’s treatment, Megadeth took the stage again with all its members on January 20, 2020.
Eddie Van Halen, who significantly impacted rock and metal music with his unforgettable guitar solos, passed away following a stroke in 2019 after a 5-year battle. He was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2000, and part of his tongue had to be surgically removed. Unfortunately, the Van Halen icon, who survived this process and was declared cancer-free in 2002, lost his battle with throat cancer years later.
The Van Halen guitarist was one of the revolutionary names in the rock world and is still praised for his tremendous tone, unique ‘tapping’ technique, and the mind-blowing sounds he created with his guitar. His unfortunate death was devastating not only for his relatives but also for his fans and the entire rock world. Mustaine was also affected by Eddie Van Halen’s battle with cancer and death since he has been coping with a similar issue for a while.
Although Dave didn’t reveal much during his treatment process, he recently shared how he felt about his illness in an interview with the Irish Times. The Megadeth icon explained that the experiences of people around him, like Eddie Van Halen and Bruce Dickinson, deeply affected him during his cancer treatment. He stated that their experiences became a source of concern.
The cause for concern for Dave was the tongue surgery Van Halen had undergone. He explained that he told his doctors how important it was for him to be able to continue singing. Stating that he had a very brutal treatment program, Dave explained that he and his doctors aimed to cure cancer without any surgical procedures.
Mustaine opened up about his treatment process:
“We worked really hard on all of the treatment and on the nutrition and all the personal stuff that I had to do outside the hospital. The doctors set up this really brutal program to address cancer. They wanted to kill it without having to do any surgery. I told the doctors that I was a little concerned that Eddie Van Halen had part of his tongue cut out. Bruce Dickinson, the Iron Maiden lead singer, and Michael Douglas had got it too, and I was part of the club.”
The singer also stated that he was very grateful to his doctors:
“We had a great program. My doctors are really great. Whenever anybody goes to see a doctor and gives you the all-clear for your health, you are usually really, really grateful. It doesn’t have any power over me anymore. I want to make sure that people don’t get discouraged when they hear news like that. I went to two doctors in Tennessee, and they knew how important it was for me to continue singing.”
Dave Mustaine is now fully recovered and continues to perform with Megadeth. The band dropped their 16th studio album, ‘The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!’ on September 2, 2022. Released six years after their previous album, ‘Dystopia,’ the album consists of 12 songs.
