DAVE MUSTAINE Is 'Back Better Than Ever' After Completing 'Tons' Of Chemotherapy And Radiation Treatments

January 21, 2020

MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine went through "tons" of chemotherapy and radiation treatments in his battle with throat cancer before returning "better than ever," says his daughter.

21-year-old Electra Mustaine addressed her father's health issues just hours after MEGADETH played its first show since Dave's cancer diagnosis. Monday night's (January 20) concert in Helsinki, Finland marked the band's first live appearance in 15 months.

"I am so proud of my father, @DaveMustaine, completing an astounding comeback tonight in Helsinki after battling cancer, tons of chemo/radiation, & a grim possibility of not being able to sing again," Electra tweeted. "It seems it's just as I predicted on the #Megacruise— he's back better than ever."

Mustaine and his bandmates played an 11-song set which included such favorites as "Hangar 18", "Peace Sells" and "Symphony Of Destruction".

MEGADETH's tour with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and BAD WOLVES will visit 13 more European countries before ending on February 20 at the Budapest Sportarena in Budapest, Hungary.

The 58-year-old MEGADETH leader revealed his cancer diagnosis last June on social media. Five months later, he gave an interview to Rolling Stone in which he said that he wasn't officially in remission but that he had finished the necessary treatment and had started rehabilitation. He also credited his faith for getting him through the ordeal.

"I've been praying for a long time, and when this whole thing went down, I prayed a lot," he said. "I don't force it on anybody; I never would do that. But I prayed about it, and I believe that that was the whole reason I got healed so fast. A lot of people's asses are probably going to grow together right now that I said this, but the truth of the matter is, everybody has their own things that they believe. And I believe that taking good care of myself and being physically fit, as well as spiritually fit, got me back to this point."

Mustaine said that his positive mindset also helped him through this most testing of journeys.

"I'm not letting the cancer get me down," he said. "I have to thank the fans and obviously my family and God but there was no way I was going to let this take me down. When [BLACK SABBATH guitarist] Tony Iommi got cancer, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's gonna die.' And I actually cried. I wept, because they had said it was stage 4 cancer. And then, when I got it, I thought, 'Oh, my God. I'm gonna die.' Because I didn't know how bad it was. I thought of the fans and how sad everybody was gonna be. And I thought, 'I have to beat this.' No matter what, there's no way I'm gonna act like I can't do this. I can do anything if I set my mind to it."

Find more on Megadeth
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).