COAL CHAMBER drummer Mikey Cox has gone public with a harrowing year-long battle with cancer — and the good news that he's now cancer-free. Speaking on the "We Were Loud Once" podcast with hosts Jeff Geaghan and Dan Cinotto, Cox detailed a diagnosis and treatment he had largely kept private.
Cox says he discovered he had stage three cancer on April 1, 2025, during a hospital visit just before a planned vacation. Early scans indicated the cancer was localized and treatable, and he initially shared the news only with close family.
What followed was an aggressive, multi-stage fight. Cox underwent five weeks of radiation — receiving the maximum dose his body could take — which he bluntly described as "pure hell." That was followed by five months of chemotherapy administered via a PICC line, with sessions every other week running about three hours each. In January 2026, surgeons performed a five-and-a-half-hour operation to remove the remaining cancer; post-surgical pathology came back with clean margins, confirming all of it had been removed.
The drummer is now cancer-free, though he's still dealing with lingering side effects, including numbness in his hands and feet, joint problems and reduced energy. He even returned to the stage during treatment, playing the Sick New World festival in April 2026, while bowing out of a Louder Than Life appearance to undergo his final surgery. Reconstructive surgery is still planned.
To turn his ordeal into something positive, Cox has partnered with the Fuck Cancer organization, auctioning off a custom one-of-a-kind drum kit to raise awareness and funds.
COAL CHAMBER, the Los Angeles nu-metal outfit fronted by Dez Fafara (also of DEVILDRIVER), helped define the genre in the late 1990s with albums like their self-titled 1997 debut and 1999's "Chamber Music." Cox's candid account is a sobering reminder of the health battles that can play out behind the scenes — and, this time, an encouraging one.