Coal Chamber drummer Mikey “Bug” Cox has spoken in detail about the cancer diagnosis and grueling treatment that consumed the past year of his life, describing weeks of radiation that pushed his body to its limit before he finally reached the other side as a survivor.
In a new interview with Jeff Geaghan and Dan Cinotto of the “We Were Loud Once” podcast, Cox recalled the sudden way he learned something was wrong. The drummer, who runs a construction company in Los Angeles between tours, said he had been feeling unwell at work just as his family was about to leave for a vacation in Costa Rica.
“I own a construction company here in Los Angeles, and that’s what I do when I’m off tour and stuff. It keeps me busy. And I was feeling really bad at work. So we were actually about to leave for a family vacation to Costa Rica, so I said, ‘Let me go to the hospital and get checked out so I’m not going to the hospital in Costa Rica.’ And they did some tests on me, some scans and all that stuff, and when I woke up from the sedation from the tests and stuff, they told me I had stage three cancer. So [they] instantly admitted me to the hospital. It was just a whirlwind. My wife was there. And they admitted me to the hospital so I can immediately get the scans done to see if it was localized and all that stuff. So the first day being there, I had the surgeons come in, the doctors come in, and they all tell you kind of the worst-case scenario. So we kind of didn’t know where it was going. And then by midnight or so, I got my first scans done, and in the morning they came in and said it was localized, so it’s treatable. So we kind of went from there,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Cox explained that he chose to stay quiet about the diagnosis, keeping the news within his tight inner circle while he and his family waited to understand exactly what they were facing.
“Once we found out [I had cancer], I didn’t wanna put it on social media, I didn’t wanna worry too many people,” Mikey continued. “I keep my circle very small, with my family, and I’m pretty private. If I didn’t have Coal Chamber, I probably wouldn’t have social media at all, ’cause I just think it’s the death of humanity. Everybody has an opinion. So, we kept it small until we knew more facts. So that was on April Fool’s Day of last year, believe it or not, when they told me. So we went to the hospital. They got the scans. I left and then met with my oncologist, and they put a plan in place, and I’m telling you exactly how they described how the cancer journey would go, I’m telling you, to the day, it went exactly like that.”
Detailing the treatment itself, Cox described an aggressive plan that left him weak and in pain, but ultimately worked exactly as his doctors predicted.
“I did five weeks of radiation, which, by the end of it, was pure hell. I was down to 152 pounds. I could barely walk. It was brutal. They gave me the highest dose of radiation the body could take. So we treated it really aggressively because I had a bigger tumor, so we wanted to shrink it down. And then I did five months of chemo through a PICC [Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter] line in my arm. So I had to go sit in the chemo chair for three hours a couple of times every other week. I did that for five months, I believe. And then it shrunk the tumor down to about a half inch. So that was exactly what they said was gonna happen, and I was able to have surgery. So I went in and had a five-and-a-half-hour surgery. This was in January. I had a five-and-a-half-hour surgery, and they cut out the rest of the cancer. Then we had to wait for the test to come back, and the test came back and they said they got all of it; all the margins were good. So, as of right now, I’m cancer-free, but I do need to have another surgery in the next month to put the rest of my insides back together, ’cause right now I have things that are rerouted. They’re gonna reroute everything back to normal in January, and hopefully that’s the last surgery. But right now I’m dealing with a lot of the side effects from cancer. Like, my feet are numb all the time, and my hands and my joints and all that stuff. So the last two shows we just played were an adventure. We just played a couple of weekends ago. So it’s a little harder to play. My energy level’s still not where it used to be, ’cause I play semi-crazy. So, we’re getting there slowly, and every show gets better. And, yeah, that’s basically where we’re at with the whole thing,” he explained.
Cox also discussed his decision to team up with F**k Cancer, a charity focused on raising awareness and encouraging early detection, to give away a one-of-a-kind custom drum kit.
He explained why he waited until he was through the worst before going public: “I didn’t want to announce [that I had cancer] until we kind of knew we were out of the woods. ‘Cause you get a diagnosis of cancer and you instantly think death, and you instantly think the worst, and everybody on this planet knows somebody who’s dealt with cancer. And a lot of people don’t survive it. So once we got on the other side of it, I thought it was better to announce. So I was working with the F**k Cancer guys for the whole year creating the drum set that I’m giving away and all that stuff. So I kept it a secret for a long time, just ’cause I didn’t wanna worry certain people, and all that kind of stuff. But I am extremely grateful to be on the other side of it. My wife was my caretaker every day. She got me to all my appointments, because if it was up to me, I probably wouldn’t have done them all, ’cause musicians are semi careless, we’ll say. Before this, I was not a fan of going to the hospital for anything, and I got to a point where I was at the hospital every single day, basically. So I just listened to my doctors, listened to my wife, and thank God we’re on the other side of it.”
Cox revealed his stage 3 diagnosis publicly in late April, sharing that it had come on April 1, 2025. Coal Chamber‘s appearance at the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas, Nevada this April marked the band’s first live performance since his successful battle with the disease. More recently, the band pulled out of this year’s Louder Than Life festival to allow Cox to undergo his final surgery tied to his diagnosis and ongoing recovery.
