Dez Fafara has hit back at a round of misreporting about his health, making clear that the tumor he disclosed earlier this week is neither in his brain nor cancerous.
The DEVILDRIVER and COAL CHAMBER frontman had spoken on "The Garza Podcast" about a growth doctors found in his head almost two years ago. After several outlets recast that as a brain tumor, Fafara went to Instagram to correct the record.
"READ CAREFULLY CAUSE PRESS HAS GOT IT WRONG!" he wrote. "I DO NOT HAVE A BRAIN TUMOR, I DO NOT HAVE BRAIN CANCER as reported and this is the problem with the internet! I have a tumor THAT'S NOT CANCER ON MY SALIVA GLAND — not on my brain."
He then laid out the full timeline. "Two years ago on a Saturday afternoon prior to preparing for TOUR I had an episode of VERTIGO. I passed out. When I awoke I was spinning and ended up in an ambulance and straight to the ER. After a myriad of tests and a very long day and night they put me in an MRI MACHINE — they discovered the tumor. The VERTIGO was my body saying, hey, 'you need to check some shit out!'"
A biopsy followed on Christmas Eve 2024. "They put a large needle in the side of my face near my ear and took cells from the tumor... Within 20 min the doctor came in and told me IT IS NOT CANCEROUS. What a fantastic Christmas Eve that was, trust me."
The tumor sits in a delicate position near the facial nerves, which is why surgery is currently off the table. "It can not be operated on until it grows, and in fact the last time we checked — I go in every nine months — it had not grown; in fact may have gotten smaller," Fafara wrote. "This, other than it being there, doesn't interfere in my daily life, my performing, singing etc. It is however in a very delicate spot and at this stage would be dangerous to operate on at its current size, because that area affects your smiling, your blinking, facial nerves."
Asked why he chose to go public at all, his answer was simple. "For 30 years the heavy metal community, the heavy metal family have had my back — and how long do you keep things from your family? I've been dealing with the weight of this alone, only close family knew, but I'm inspired to tell people not to ever give up or get down about things that happen. Instead take a positive outlook and fight and deal with it. Humor helps too — let me tell you."
Fafara has been open about health struggles before, including the after-effects of a near-fatal bout of COVID-19 in 2021.
DEVILDRIVER's new album, "Strike And Kill", was released on July 10 via Napalm Records, with a lineup of Fafara, guitarists Alex Lee and Gabe Mangold, drummer Davier Ortega Perez and returning bassist Jon Miller. The band's western U.S. tour with UPON A BURNING BODY and OV SULFUR begins August 14 in San Diego and ends September 5 in Anaheim.