Late Guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s Son, Wolf, Was Just Nominated for a Grammy. His Ex-Wife and Mother of Wolf Says Eddie Would Be Even ‘Prouder than Me’

Eddie, sadly, passed after multiple battles with various forms of cancer on October 6, 2020. And though he is no longer with us, he has a lot to be proud of regarding his son’s career as a musician. Most recently with Wolf’s nomination for best rock song with his song, Distance, at the 2022 Grammys.

“There’s only one other person that would be prouder than me. And that’s pretty impossible, but it would be Ed,” Bertinelli told PEOPLE’s Janine Rubenstein and Jeremy Parsons on the red carpet Sunday. “I feel him so strongly right now. He’s here with us. He is.

“I’m not gonna make you [Wolf] cry too, baby. But yeah. He’s here. Thanks, Ed. It’s fun.”

RELATED: Eddie Van Halen's Son Wolf Makes Triumphant Debut on Tour, Says 'I Won't Forget It'; Coping with Cancer Loss

Wolf didn’t end up taking home the trophy, but he did humbly express his gratitude for the nomination.

🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/cBvfBMsGBe

Wolf Van Halen 🐺 🚐 🙌 (@WolfVanHalen) April 4, 2022

“We came, we saw, but we did NOT conquer and that's ok!” Van Halen wrote on Twitter after the awards ceremony.

RELATED: Remembering Rocker Eddie Van Halen, Who Died at 65 After Fighting Various Types of Cancer

He continued to say that he was able to spend the night with the two ladies he loves most and even made a nod to his father.

“I got to have a wonderful night with the two most important women in my world,” he wrote referencing his mother and girlfriend, Andraia Allsop, 31. "Pop didn't win the first time he was nominated too, so it looks like I'm following in his footsteps quite nicely."

Eddie Van Halen's Cancer Journey

Van Halen died after multiple battles with various forms of cancer. His first diagnosis, tongue cancer, came in 2000 when Wolf was just nine years old. For treatment, he had part of his tongue removed, but he was declared to be in remission in 2002.

RELATED: Brave Australian Man, 27, Has Half of His Tongue Removed During Cancer Fight, Learns The Disease Has Spread to His Heart; Understanding Head and Neck Cancers

Then around 2014, he was diagnosed with throat cancer after cancerous cells traveled there from his tongue. In 2017, cancer struck again when Van Halen was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Then came a brain tumor in 2019. He received treatment in Germany for the lung cancer in order to extend his expected survival time and reportedly had gamma knife radiation, a type of a radiosurgery, to remove his brain tumor.

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Needless to say, Van Halen struggled with his health for many years. SurvivorNet obtained a copy of the death certificate issued two months after his passing which revealed that he was suffering from both lung and skin cancer. The document lists Eddie's cause of death as a cerebrovascular accident (stroke), but underlying conditions included pneumonia, lung cancer, myelodysplastic syndrome and squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

RELATED: What's the Standard Treatment for MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome)?

Myelodysplastic syndrome, a disorder which causes a disruption in blood cell production, often occurs in response to cancer treatments. He had been suffering from this disorder for the last six months prior to his death.

One important thing to note is that while we don't necessarily know why each of his cancers developed, we do know that years of heavy drinking, drug use and chain-smoking might have increased his risk for cancer. And despite Van Halen's claims that his throat cancer was caused by putting copper and brass guitar picks in his mouth for years, there's no sufficient evidence to back up these claims.

There is, however, evidence linking smoking and excessive drinking to the disease. Throat cancer diagnoses can also be caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV)  the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. According to Dr. Ted Teknos, the scientific director of UH Seidman Cancer Center, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers have exponentially increased since the mid-90's.

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"If you look at the percentage of patients who developed throat cancer, cancer of the tonsils, and the base of the tongue in the 80s compared to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent," Dr. Teknos told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "So there is no myth. HPV causes throat cancer, and it's a sexually transmitted disease."

Losing a Loved One to Cancer

Grief is an inevitable and essential part of the healing process after losing a loved one to cancer. And there's definitely no one way to cope, but Doug Wendt shared his thoughts on grief in a previous interview with SurvivorNet after losing his wife Alice to ovarian cancer.

"I Don't Want to Move On; I Do Want To Move Forward": Doug Wendt On Being A Caregiver and Tragically Losing His Wife to Ovarian Cancer

"We're never gonna move on, I don't even think I want to move on, but I do want to move forward," Wendt said. "That's an important distinction, and I encourage anybody who goes through this journey as a caregiver and then has to face loss, to think very carefully about how to move forward."

Everyone's journey of grief looks different, but therapy and support groups can also be wonderful options to explore. It's also important to keep in mind that time does not heal everything, but it certainly helps.

In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Camila Legaspi shared her own advice on grief after her mother died of breast cancer. For her, therapy made all the difference.

"Therapy Saved My Life": After Losing A Loved One, Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help

"Therapy saved my life," Legaspi said. "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. 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."

Legaspi also wanted to remind people that even though it can be an incredibly difficult experience to process, things will get better.

"When you lose someone, it's really, really, really hard," Legaspi said. "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."

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