Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell has revealed that his cancer has returned, just months after declaring himself in remission. The 63-year-old Irish musician had undergone a donor stem cell transplant that doctors said was his best chance of a cure, but he says it "didn't stick" and the disease is now back, marking a fresh setback in a battle he has fought since 2013.

Campbell disclosed the relapse in an interview with Francisco Sigüenza of El Salvador's Radio YSKL FM, having told Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation as recently as June 2025 that he was "completely in remission" from Hodgkin lymphoma. The former Dio and Whitesnake guitarist says there has been only one occasion when he genuinely feared the illness would kill him, but insists he refuses to live in fear despite the cancer's return.