Def Leppard guitarist Vivian Campbell was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma last year. He is still battling the disease with a new high-tech chemo treatment, and plans to receive a stem-cell transplant after the band's tour ends in September.

Speaking with HeraldExtra.com's Doug Fox, Campbell reveals: "Actually, the remission was a little bit premature. It came right back. I don't know if the cancer came back or it never totally went away, you know, but the initial scan I did last fall after doing my chemo, the scan came back clean. But there was something about it the oncologist was unclear about and didn't feel good about, so I was referred to another specialist.

I suppose one of the advantages about being in this city that I dislike so much is that there's a lot of great medical facilities here. There's a place called City of Hope just outside of L.A., and there's a specific oncologist there who's probably the leading oncologist with regards to Hodgkins in the U.S., and he sent me to him. He had a look at my scans and, you know, everyone was a little bit apprehensive, and he said, 'Well, for now you appear to be in remission'. I kind of took that ball and I ran with it, and unfortunately it turned out to be premature.

So the followup scan that I did a couple months later showed that there was definitely some growth coming back. I ended up having a couple of biopsies - I did a needle biopsy in January and that showed that I was fine, but my oncologist said, and he was right, that needle biopsies are notoriously uncertain, and he suggested I do a surgical biopsy. So I went to Dublin and started to record with the band, we started work on a new record, and as soon as I got back from that, I did another surgical biopsy and that showed that the cancer had definitely come back.

I'm actually doing this new high-tech chemo treatment, I'm about halfway through it already, and it's really kind of easy going. It's the first new drug that's been discovered for Hodgkin's since 1977 and they made this discovery in 2011, and it's actually being pioneered here at City of Hope, so I'm part of this research clinical trial that's going on. It's very, very benign chemo, actually it just targets - I don't know how it works, obviously I'm not a medical person, but somehow or other it just manages to target the cancer cells. It's not like old-school, carpet-bomb chemo where it kills all the fast-growing cells, so I haven't experienced any hair loss or any issues with my skin or nails or anything this time around, which is good.

And assuming that works, I'm going to have to continue a couple of treatments, actually, over the course of the tour, so that's awkward to work around, but not impossible. Assuming that it all works and I actually get to a perceived remission stage by August, then as soon as the tour is over in early September I'm going to get a stem-cell transplant, which I can't say I'm looking forward to, but I've been told if I don't do that, the cancer's going to just keep coming back every couple years. And every time it's a little bit more resistant. It is what it is. It could be worse - but at least I have health insurance." (laughs)

Read the full interview at this location.

The KISS, Def Leppard tour will storm through 40-plus cities throughout North America.

Tour dates:

June

25 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center
27 - Ridgefield, WA - Sleep Country Amphitheater
29 - Auburn, WA - White River Amphitheater

July

2 - Concord, CA - Concord Pavilion
3 - Wheatland, CA - Sacramento Valley Amphitheater
5 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
6 - Chula Vista, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre
8 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
9 - Phoenix, AZ - Ak-Chin Pavilion
12 - Austin, TX - austin360 Amphitheater
13 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion
15 - Cincinnati, OH - Riverbend Music Center
16 - Nashville, TN - Bridgestone Arena
18 - Atlanta, GA - Aaron's Amphitheater at Lakewood
19 - Charlotte, NC - PNC Music Pavilion
20 - Raleigh, NC - Walnut Creek Amphitheater
22 - West Palm Beach, FL - Cruzan Amphitheater
23 - Tampa, FL - MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheater
25 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
26 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Bank Arts Center

August

1 - Mansfield, MA - Xfinity Center
2 - Atlantic City, NJ - Boardwalk Hall
3 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Bank Center
5 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga Performing Arts Center
6 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
8 - Virginia Beach, VA - Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
9 - Scranton, PA - Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain
10 - Hartford, CT - The Xfinity Theatre
12 - Toronto, ON - Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
13 - Darien Center, NY - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
15 - East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theater
16 - Tinley Park, IL - First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
17 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center**
20 - Des Moines, IA - Wells Fargo Arena**
22 - Noblesville, IN - Klipsch Music Center
23 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Energy Music Theatre
24 - Burgettstown, PA - First Niagara Pavilion
26 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH - Blossom Music Center
28 - Maryland Heights, MO - Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
29 - Tulsa, OK - BOK Center
31 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Check out a tour commercial:

Check out 40 minutes of footage from the press conference announcing the tour below: