Wolfgang on Eddie
- Eddie Van Halen died of throat cancer at age 65 in October.
- His son Wolfgang, who is also a musician, spoke to Howard Stern about his late dad, and his theory about his guitar picks causing his tongue cancer.
- Those grieving for a parent who passes from cancer can use tools like therapy to help them through.
“I was kinda blown out that Eddie Van Halen was calling me. This guy’s my hero….and he always said to me about this whole idea that his pick caused the cancer he felt because he had this metal pick in his mouth because of all the electromagnetism in the room that it actually caused this cancer. And I remember saying to him on the phone: ‘Eddie, I don’t mean to be a buzzkill here, but don’t you think smoking cigarettes is way more detrimental? And he said, ‘No.’ He was convinced of this.”
“People love to give him shit about that,” Wolfgang told Stern. “And it’s misattributed to throat cancer. And that’s not true…I do believe for the tongue cancer he got [in 2000] it’s certainly feasible. He would hold his pick in the same spot all the time, and that’s the exact area that he got [his tongue cancer]. So that’s way more possible, and I could certainly believe [it].”
Van Halen’s Cancer
Van Halen past away from throat cancer, but had two brushes with the disease, as he was first diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2000. After his diagnosis in 2000, he had part of his tongue removed, and was declared in remission in 2002. We just learned that Eddie also had lung cancer in 2017, and a brain tumor in 2019. Eddie sought alternative treatments in Germany, and Wolfgang credits those treatment visits with adding years to his dad’s life. Following a motorcycle accident in 2019, it was discovered Eddie had a brain tumor.
Cancer resurfaced for Van Halen around 2014 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Some throat cancers are the result of HPV. Dr. Jessica Geiger of Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center told SurvivorNet in a previous interview about this link between HPV and throat cancer. She said, “HPV-related throat cancer, generally, is very responsive to treatment with radiation and chemotherapy. And the cure rates for patients who have HPV-related disease are a lot higher than those who have tobacco-related throat cancer.”
Get the Facts: What Do We Know About HPV-Linked Throat Cancer?
Therapy After Cancer Loss
For some, like Wolfgang, talking openly about your loss can help to heal it as you move through grief. Tools like therapy, support groups, and speaking with family and friends, can be helpful.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Camila Legaspi, whose mother passed away from breast cancer when she was in high school, shared how therapy has helped her. She said, “Therapy saved my life. I was dealing with some really intense anxiety and depression at that point. It just changed my life, because I was so drained by all the negativity that was going on.”
Legaspi told SurvivorNet that seeing a therapist helped her gain perspective. “Going to a therapist helped me realize that there was still so much out there for me, that I still had my family, that I still had my siblings. The reality is, is when you lose someone, it’s really, really, really hard. And it’s totally OK to talk to someone. And I’m so happy that I talked to my therapist. Keep your chin up, and it’s going to be OK. No matter what happens, it’s going to be OK. There are so many of us that have gone through the same thing that you’re going through.”
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