Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Says He is “100% Free of Cancer”
Dave Mustaine’s announcement that he had throat cancer sent a chill through the metal world last summer despite his optimism in a treatment course that doctors said had a 90% success rate.
Mustaine completed treatment in October and embarked upon his first tour since the diagnosis just a couple of weeks back, so it would appear he is very much free of the disease. Still, given the uncertain future of anyone who’s had cancer and the still-developing science in treating it, fans have cause to continue to be concerned.
This should help put some of that concern to rest: Mustaine told the crowd assembled to see Megadeth in London on Friday night, January 31, that he is “100% free of cancer,” as relayed from his doctor.
Addressing the audience between songs, he said:
“About a year ago, we were working on our new album back in Franklin, TN, and I started to feel some pain here [points at throat], so I went to the doctor and he said, ‘Dave, you have cancer.’ And I went, ‘Fuck!… I have cancer…’ And I was so shocked. And at first, I thought, you know, ‘Am I afraid?’; and I said, ‘No, I’m fucking pissed.’
“And we stopped the record, we stopped everything, I went into treatment for cancer. It was 51 radiation treatments and nine chemo treatments. And when it was all said and done, every day I would think, ‘I can’t face not playing again; I can’t face not playing again.’
“So I would pray – I know a lot of you guys know that I pray, I say that in ‘Peace Sells’ [referring to the line, ‘What do you mean I don’t believe in God? I talk to him every day’]; I pray every day, I say that in the song, I’ve been saying it since the second record.
“But I thought about you guys every day too, and I thought about my family, I got this power from you guys and I just kept thinking about it… And on October 16, I went to go see the doctor and he said, ‘You’re 100% free of cancer.’”
That is obviously fantastic news, even if we already knew that Dave’s health has vastly improved since the initial diagnosis.
Megadeth continue to tour Europe with Five Finger Death Punch and Bad Wolves. Earlier in the tour, his daughter, Electra, joined him on stage for a duet of “Á Tout Le Monde. Remaining dates:
Feb 03: Berlin Max-Schmeling Halle, Germany [tickets]
Feb 04: Hamburg Sporthalle, Germany [tickets]
Feb 06: Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany [tickets]
Feb 08: Oberhausen Koenig-Pilsener Arena, Germany [tickets]
Feb 09: Stuttgart Schleyerhalle, Germany [tickets]
Feb 10: Munich Olympiahalle, Germany [tickets]
Feb 12: Warsaw Torwar, Poland [tickets]
Feb 14: Prague Tipsport Arena, Czech Republic [tickets]
Feb 16: Milan Alcatrazz, Italy [tickets]
Feb 17: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland [tickets]
Feb 19: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria [tickets]
Feb 20: Budapest Sportarena, Hungary [tickets]
[via Ultimate Guitar]
