Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus on cancer, depression, and reconciling with Tom DeLonge
Remember this picture?
Mark Hoppus meant to DM that to his friends but accidentally sent it out to the wider world. That’s how we learned about his diagnosis of stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the same cancer that affected his mom. And like mom, he beat it. That’s one of the things we learn in a new interview with People magazine.
The cancer scare began when he felt a lump on his shoulder. From the interview:
“I texted my doctor, ‘Hey, weird lump on my shoulder. It’s either a pulled muscle or a deadly lymphoma,’ ” he says. “I was trying to make a joke out of it.”
When doctors took a look, they found a series of tumors the size of limes in his shoulder and stomach along with a grape-sized tumor in his neck. Then there were more in his abdomen. He fell into a deep depression, but thanks to his wife Skye (they’ve been married 22 years) and his mom, he was able to pull through all the brutal chemo treatments. Mark is now cancer-free.
Now that he’s recovered, Mark is working on a variety of things: a record company called Verswire, a radio show on Apple Music, skateboarding, and–just maybe–reconciling with Tom DeLonge. Between chemo treatments, both Tom and Travis Barker came to visit Mark at his house, the first time the three of them had been in the same room in five years. I quote:
“It’s actually better than it used to be. There was no agenda. There were no lingering grudges. It felt very back to what it should be: three friends sitting in a room. I keep writing music, and I’m open to whatever the next phase of Blink is. I’m hopeful for the future. I’m just damn glad to be here.”
