Mark Hoppus Disclose How He Overcame A Deep Distress During Chemo: ‘I Have A Second Shot At Life

Updated on August 17, 2022 19:55 PM by Laura Mendes

Mark Hoppus's Cancer Journey And His Hopeless Feeling

Mark Hoppus is again relishing all the small things after his cancer journey, but 16 months ago, he felt hopeless.

The Blink-182 bassist-vocalist was diagnosed with lymphoma in April 2021, and after his initial chemotherapy treatment, he was despondent and confided in his wife of 22 years, Skye.

Mark Hoppus was in our living room crying and telling my wife that Mark doesn't know if Mark can do this; Hoppus, 50, recalls the new issue. She was like, what are you going to do, kill yourself? And that is exactly what he was thinking. It was pretty dark.

Hoppus Cancer Diagnosis Into Deep Depression

The cancer diagnosis had thrown Hoppus into a deep depression, and he struggled with suicidal thoughts before Skye's wake-up call.

It was a total snap-out-of-it moment, he says. He was like, what a s---ty thing to say. However, what a kind thing to say, like, Snap out of it, you f---ing baby. You have a beatable form of cancer. It is going to suck to get there but get there. I had to do the work.

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Hoppus did that while also depending on Skye, with whom he shares 20-year-old son Jack throughout the ordeal.

My wife was awesome from day one. She researched all the best foods. This helps with nausea, and this helps with dehydration, and this helps with recovery, Hoppus says. Hoppus initially sensed something was wrong when he felt a lump on his shoulder.

He texted my doctor, Hey, weird lump on my shoulder. It is either a pulled muscle or a deadly lymphoma, he says. She was trying to make a joke out of it.

But his quip turned out to be prescient when doctors found lime-size tumors in his shoulder and stomach, a grape-size tumor in his neck, and more in his abdomen; they told him he had stage four diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which is generally curable if caught early.

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One of the initial calls Hoppus made was to his mom, Kerry Wernz, who received successful treatment for the same cancer diagnosis in 2019. Mark leaned on her so much. She knew exactly what he was feeling, he says of Wernz.

Hoppus Plan To Share Cancer Journey

Hoppus was not planning to share his cancer journey publicly. But in June 2021, he accidentally posted a photo from his chemo chair to Instagram rather than DMing it to friends.

She thought that once people found out, it would be like, Haha, f--- you. You're going to die just on the s---ty side of the Internet. Instead, everyone was like, you are going to get through this, Hoppus says, tearing up. It was this rad outpouring of support from strangers. It gave me so much strength and so much hope. The rocker focused on that positivity as he underwent treatment.

The chemotherapy was brutal. He says I had no energy and ended up being on the couch just trying to get through the day. He had the worst brain fog.

We were sitting at dinner with friends we've known for years, and I looked at the husband across the table, thinking, I can't remember your name. And it was like that all the time. I still feel it once every couple of days; I'll forget a word, but it's much better.

And on Sept. 29, 2021, five months after his diagnosis, doctors declared Hoppus cancer-free. Today I'm doing good. The recovery is taking longer than I had hoped, but I am in a much better place, says Hoppus. I feel like I have a second shot at life.

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Adds Skye, also 50: He's a rock. The last couple of years threw a lot of wrenches in our system, but we're even stronger on the other side of it. He rose above and got through it.

Since doctors gave him the all-clear, Hoppus has returned to work. He's writing a book, launched the record company Verswire and is hosting his radio show on Apple Music.

Hoppus is also facing the future with gratitude. He says I still feel like I'm in my 20s, skateboarding and being an idiot. In reality, I'm 50 years old and glad to be alive.