Mark Hoppus plays bass guitar for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer

Mark Hoppus recently sat down to play his bass guitar for the first time since being diagnosed with cancer during an online Twitch stream.

In the stream, the Blink-182 bassist stated, “Not only is this the first time that I’ve tried to play these songs in well over a year, this is the first time that I’ve felt well enough to play my bass since I was diagnosed.

“So, this is the first time I’ve picked up my bass in a few months,” he continues, before using his recently unveiled custom-made bass built by David Celis and Allan Corona to reel off the rapid-fire low-end notes of Not Now, taken from sessions for the band's 2003 self-titled record.

Recently, Hoppus gave an update on his ongoing battle with cancer, confirming to fans during a Q&A that he has stage 4 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma – the same type of cancer that his mother once battled and beat.

At the time of the online Q&A, Hoppus revealed he was recording in anticipation of a test that would reveal whether his chemotherapy was working or not.

The Blink-182 member has since announced to fans via social media that the test had led to the “best possible news”, and that his treatment was indeed working.

In the post, Hoppus wrote, “Scans indicate that the chemo is working! I still have months of treatment ahead, but it’s the best possible news.

“I’m so grateful and confused and also sick from last week’s chemo,” he continued. “But the poison the doctors pump into me and the kind thoughts and wishes of people around me are destroying this cancer. Just gonna keep fighting…”

In his Twitch Q&A, Hoppus revealed that, “no matter what” the results of the test were, he would still be undergoing at least three more rounds of his chemotherapy “just to make sure”.

“Ideally, I go in tomorrow and they say, ‘Congratulations! Your chemotherapy has worked and you are all done, and you’ll never have to think about this cancer ever again for the rest of your life,'" he said at the time. 

“If that happens, no matter what, even if the cancer is totally gone from my whole body, they give me three more rounds of chemo just to make sure.”