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On September 29, 2021, Mark Hoppus declared that he was "cancer free" after getting diagnosed with stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that April. The blink-182 singer/bassist documented his cancer battle in a newly released memoir called Fahrenheit 182. During an interview with The Guardian about the book, Hoppus revealed how he really felt while he was battling the disease.
“I really thought I was going to die," he confessed. “And, in a way, it absolutely was so freeing. I’d spent my whole life hypervigilant, thinking: what’s the worst thing that could happen? And, oh, it’s here now, I’m dealing with it and it still sucks."
“The physical pain and exhaustion of the chemo, mixed with the steroids and all the other drugs, just crushed me for months on end," he recalled before noting a positive that came from the diagnosis. "But it brought back friendships that I hadn’t had in years. It healed my friendship with Tom [DeLonge]: from day one, he was like: ‘What do you need? I’m there.’ In that friendship and the love and support of people around me, I thought: you know what? I’ve had a pretty awesome life.”
The world found out about Hoppus' diagnosis when he accidentally shared a photo of himself on a chemo drip to his Instagram feed and not his family WhatsApp group. Although he ended up deleting the post, he called it “the best mistake I’ve ever made, by far."
“I suffered alone in silence for so long because I thought that, once it came out I had cancer, people’s opinions of me would change," the 53-year-old explained. "Just generally in life, I felt that when people get sick or injured in some way they get left behind, like: ‘OK, you’re over here now in a different category.’ But I was wrong.”
He noted all the “gifts, kind thoughts, people sending whatever," which was all moving, but what really got him were fans who were cancer survivors sending him videos of them singing old blink-182 songs. “All these people who were fighters and winners, who overcame their cancer,” he said. “That helped. I was finally able to say: ‘Yeah. I’m f***ing scared, but, you know, I try to put on a brave face.’”
In the time since he found out he was cancer free, Hoppus officially reunited with DeLonge and the classic blink-182 lineup released a new album, ONE MORE TIME... in 2023. They've been touring the world ever since and just announced a North American trek with Alkaline Trio that's slated to kick off this summer.