One of the founding members of The Blasters, Dave Alvin, shares a hefty update on his longstanding battle with cancer and other ailments he has had for the past years.
Former The Blasters Guitarist Dave Alvin Health Update
Dave Alvin recounted his private battle with cancer, among other diseases, in the past years to Rolling Stone.
While on tour with the majority of 2019, it was until December of that year that the esteemed guitarist felt no longer "physically capable of keeping up his furious touring pace."
A month after, he contracted a sepsis infection and was hospitalized.
The confinement, however, did not keep him from performing at the "Lovin' Spoonful" benefit tribute show in February 2020.
Two months after he barely performed at the benefit concert, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which Alvin later considered the "smallest" tumor he had.
Later on, he was also diagnosed with Stage 4 colorectal cancer that had moved onto the legend's liver. He had undergone chemotherapy and radiation to treat the cancers effectively.
He then had massive surgery to remove the tumors in his body, which turned out successfully. In June 2021, Dave Alvin was told he was cancer-free.
Still in disbelief of the amazing feat, the 66-year-old is skeptical of the recent news; later, he finds another massive news from one of his doctors.
"They found another tumor developing, and it became this Kafkaesque thing: One of the oncologists thought I may have cancer in my lungs, so they started me on chemotherapy for cancer in my lungs," he recalled.
Alvin then received another round of rigorous treatment to recover from the new diagnosis, all with doctors telling him he had only a year left to live.
As of this writing, Dave is "completely cancer-free." He has already survived all three cancers he has been diagnosed with, including the neuropathy he suffered as a side-effect of the chemotherapy.
However, Alvin is still aware that his cancer may return. Still, he is nonetheless proud of overcoming such a feat, especially his colorectal cancer, the "hardest" one he considered among all three.
Dave Alvin will be embarking on a 9-stop California tour with Jimmy Dale Gilmore in the remaining months of 2022, capping off in November for the Outlaw Country Fest 2022.
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