Mark Hoppus picked up his bass guitar during a Twitch stream on Monday (July 26), marking the first time he’s played in public since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
The Blink-182 singer-bassist, whose been undergoing chemotherapy for the past three months, told fans, “Not only is this the first time that I’ve tried to play these songs in well over a year, this is the first time that I’ve felt well enough to play my bass since I was diagnosed.”
In a recent video, Hoppus spoke in depth for the first time about the type of cancer he’s been diagnosed with, which he said was “diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.” According to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, DLBCL is the “most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in the United States and worldwide, accounting for about 22 percent of newly diagnosed cases of B-cell NHL in the United States.”
The organization reports that more than 18,000 people are diagnosed with DLBCL each year. It describes the cancer as an “aggressive (fast-growing) NHL that affects B-lymphocytes,” a type of white blood cell that makes antibodies to fight infections and serve as an important part of the lymphatic system.
“So, this is the first time I’ve picked up my bass in a few months even,” Hoppus added in the new video, in which he plucked out “Not Now” — from Blink’s 2003 self-titled album — on his custom bass featuring a purple octopus. Hoppus, wearing a “Himynameismark” shirt and black baseball hat, seemed like he hasn’t lost a step, playing some low end sounds along to the song’s galloping rhythm.
On July 19, Hoppus shared the “best possible news” — that the chemo is doing its job. “Scans indicate that the chemo is working! I still have months of treatment ahead, but it’s the best possible news. I’m so grateful and confused and also sick from last week’s chemo,” he wrote on Twitter. “But the poison the doctors pump into me and the kind thoughts and wishes of people around me are destroying this cancer.”
Watch Hoppus play his bass below.
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