Eddie Van Halen Health Update Revealed After Cancer Diagnosis Leaks

It was reported last week that Eddie Van Halen has been traveling to Germany to receive cancer treatment, but that isn’t stopping him from enjoying his life, TMZ reports. Sources shared that Van Halen attended the TOOL concert on Monday in Los Angeles and was “super stoked” to see the band. This week, the musician was seen at a McLaren dealership in Beverly Hills, where he spent time with the sales team and took photos.

According to TMZ, Van Halen has been flying between the United States and Germany for years to be treated for throat cancer, which he reportedly believes was caused by a metal guitar pick he used to use while playing. The 64-year-old used to hold the pick in his mouth and has been told that that could be the cause of his cancer despite the fact that he was also a heavy smoker.

Sources say that he has been making the trip for around five years to receive radiation treatment and has worked to keep his cancer in check “for the most part.”

The rocker’s reported treatment comes 20 years after he underwent treatment for tongue cancer, with doctors removing around one third of his tongue in 2000. He was cleared of that diagnosis in 2002, but sources say that there were times when cancer cells migrated down to his throat and doctors would scrape them out.

“I used metal picks — they’re brass and copper — which I always held in my mouth, in the exact place where I got the tongue cancer,” he told Billboard in 2015. “Plus, I basically live in a recording studio that’s filled with electromagnetic energy. So that’s one theory.”

“I mean, I was smoking and doing a lot of drugs and a lot of everything,” he added. “But at the same time, my lungs are totally clear. This is just my own theory, but the doctors say it’s possible.”

Van Halen’s bandmate David Lee Roth was asked about his friend’s reported health issues during an interview on Detroit radio station WRIF, though he declined to speculate about them. Van Hale last performed together in 2015.

“I hear all the same rumours that you do and it’s not my place to guess,” he said via NME, adding that Van Halen “got his own story to tell” and that it’s “not mine to tell it.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Daniel Knighton