Paul Cauthen performs onstage at Paradigm Nashville during SXSW at Palm Door on March 14, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Travis P Ball/Getty Images for SXSW)Getty Images for SXSW
There has been plenty to smile about when it comes to country music this year, but a handful of the genre’s most popular performers are battling big-time health issues.
The good news is, it appears that all of them are doing well in their fight, and they have all been fairly transparent in sharing their battles with fans as they go along. in turn, fans are invested in their health, and have been quick to send prayers and support.
The following is a quick look at four country stars who have shared scary health battles with fans and continue to receive prayers and well-wishes in 2025:
PAUL CAUTHEN
The country music world was stunned this week as Paul Cauthen took to Instagram to let fans know where he has been.
A post to the social media site back in early February announced that the country and country rock star was taking time away from the road to “take care of his mental and physical health.”
And that was a decision that may have saved the 39-year-old’s life because in his video Thursday he announced he has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. That, of course, was a shock for many, and Cauthen’s announcement was flooded with support and prayers.
“You’ve got this brother,” Tony Martinez responded. “So glad you did listen to yourself and get checked out. You’re gonna be just fine.”
“Sending lots of love and prayers your way, friend!” Mollianna Scates responded. “God’s got you in every breath and every step.”
“Love you Paul,” another person wrote. “Thanks for being real and honest. Prayers for your ongoing health. We need you around.”
There were plenty more comments like that on the post.
In his video, Cauthen got right to addressing where he has been since February.
“I know, I have kind of been blacked out and you know, not really present online,” he said. “But just know that it has been for the right reasons.
Cauthen explained that he got pneumonia while he was out on the road and was “taking a bunch of steroids to get me through those shows.”
“But something woke me up, and I was blue in my lips and white my face, and it just scared the hell out of me,” he said. “I went up to the front of the bus, and talked to my bus driver, Tony, and I was like, ‘Where are we?’ I looked out the front of the bus window, and it said Des Moines International Airport next exit. I flew home. I kind of shoo myself and listened to myself for the first time in a long time.”
Cauthen said he decided to go to the Cooper Clinic in Dallas after he got healthy for a few weeks because he “wanted to get my body checked out.”
COLT FORD
Colt Ford’s recovery since he collapsed and died twice – doctors brought him back each time – following a concert in Arizona last April has been nothing short of miraculous.
So, it probably should not surprise anyone to hear that he is giving God the credit, as he continues to make his comeback.
“God just told me, I need to sit down and pay attention to what’s going on around me,” the singer told Fox News Digital. “And I think I try to use it for … something as positive as I can … no matter what it is, I’m meant to have that second chance. That just doesn’t happen. You know? It is such a gift. I realize how precious some things are now, and it makes me focus a little bit differently.”
Ford returned to perform on stage last year, and this year he is making new music and planning to tour again. He admitted that the near-death experience has changed his outlook on life.
“It’s been pretty profound for sure,” he said. “It just makes you realize some of the things you think are important or that maybe you were chasing as a younger man or a younger person … they’re not really that important.”
Ford said he was always “an alpha male kind of a guy.”
“All of a sudden, I wake up out of a come and I can’t even feed myself out of a Styrofoam cup,” he said. “It’s very humbling.”
Ford announced just more than a week ago that he has new music on the way.
“I’m back baby,” Ford said in one of the videos. “I’ve been working hard. I’ve been down here working hard so that I can get back to y’all, and I got some new music for y’all. Brand new song called ‘Hell Out Of It’ with my buddy Michael Ray. So, whatever you doing you better be living.”
Fans loved seeing the announcement which came weeks after Ford also announced he was returning to touring this year.
Ford collapsed following a show in early April of 2024. He revealed some of the details of his medical ordeal later that month when he called in to the Big D and Bubba radio show from his hospital bed.
“It’s been a traumatic, crazy experience,” Ford told the hosts. “I didn’t even remember coming out here to do a show in Phoenix.”
Ford had just stepped back onto his tour bus after performing at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row bar when he texted his fiancée, ‘Hi baby.’”
“And then I fell over dead,” he said.
Ford said that, luckily, his band came out to check on him and found him. And, he said, Gilbert got involved in getting him to the hospital and, eventually, making sure he was switched to another hospital when the one they were at didn’t have the correct equipment to deal with Ford’s heart situation.
“He said, ‘I don’t care what you do, get him to the other hospital,’” Ford said of Gilbert.
Ford said he died during transport to the other hospital.
“They brought me back,” he said. “They saved my life. The Lord had more for me to do.”
He added that one of his doctors told him he would not have given him a 1-percent chance to live.
“He said, I would give you a .1 percent chance that you would have survived,’” Ford said.
“I had so much trauma in my body and my heart,” he said. “I had three stints put in (my heart).”
Ford, who has worked closely with Toby Keith, Jamey Johnson and Jason Aldean, has had his share of health issues.
He also reportedly had eye cancer and had to undergo surgery three years ago to deal with that.
Ford, whose real name is Jason Farris Brown, is a former professional golfer. He has released eight studio albums with his first coming in 2008.
RAUL MALO
Raul Malo is back, and he is one tough dude.
After fans of Malo, the frontman for The Mavericks, were hit with the news that he had been hospitalized in February as he battles cancer, he returned to social media with a major update in early March.
And, good news is, the guy was smiling and looking great.
“Hey everyone … here’s a quick health update,” Malo wrote on the band’s Instagram alongside a carousel of photos. “Writing this as I wait to have a PET scan. Last week was kind of rough as I’ve developed a hernia in my abdomen. As you can imagine it is very painful and I was sent to the emergency room by my doctor.”
Malo said his doctor ordered a scan right away.
“Anyways, as each day goes by I feel a little better and that’s (a) good sign,” he continued. “I imagine that I’ll have some better days than others. Doctor has signed off on me getting back to work. I am really happy about that. Of course there are conditions … “wear the brace around your waist, don’t lift anything heavy, and make sure you rest, rest, rest.”
Malo and The Mavericks have been back out on the road since.
Malo first announced in January that he had surgery on Dec. 10 to remove a tumor from his liver. He said back then he was taking time off to recover. The band only recently returned to touring in February.
“These shows will be a good barometer for me to be able to gauge my stamina,” Malo said of the dates earlier this month. “Our sets run approximately an hour with this lineup. The only shows moved so far this year (aside from the cruise) are our recent headlining shows. They conflicted with my chemo schedule (and we need to adhere to that obviously).”
Malo said then he was currently on the (second) round “of the next five or six rounds.”
“Doctor will make that determination as we get closer,” he said. “The goal is to make sure there’s no cancer left. The team is reasonably confident that after the colon surgery we should be done if the scans and tests agree. I think it’s fair to say that this is a fluid situation to a certain degree. We will keep you updated regularly. And if there are any disruptions to the touring schedule we will inform you as soon as possible. Anyways, thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and for your understanding of the situation.”
Malo, 59, also addressed fans earlier this year in a video shared to the band’s Instagram when he discussed his surgery.
“I wanted to catch you up on my health as we go through this journey,” Malo said in the video. “Some of you know that I had liver surgery on December 10th. They successfully removed a tumor from the liver, and we are going into the fourth week of recovery, and they said 4-to-6 weeks recovery which would of course take me into the timing of the cruise and so we just want to give you fair warning that we will not be on the cruise and we are really sorry about that. We love starting off the year with the cruise and some place warm and tropical and believe we could all use that.
“I’m feeling strong,” he continued. “And even though I’m in a little bit of discomfort, like it’s really hard to hold a guitar up to my body, and I don’t know if I can sing because there’s one thing where you can recover, but you also have to be in performing shape, and I’m nowhere near that, at least not a performance worth writing about or talking about.” Malo announced his diagnosis in late June in an Instagram video.
“In the last couple of years, we out here on the road, we have been on a health kick,” he said. “Treating ourselves a little better. Taking care out ourselves a little better, and really trying to do all the right things as far as nutrition, etc. So, part of the health journey is to get yourself checked out. Go to a doctor, take a physical and start there.”
Malo said that is what he did.
“And that led to another appointment with a gastrointestinal specialist, which led to a CAT scan,” he said. “And that proved to show two cancerous spots.”
CARLY PEARCE
Country music star Carly Pearce opened up more about the frightening heart condition she revealed last year during an appearance on “Today” in January.
The 34-year-old singer revealed last year that she was dealing with pericarditis, which is the inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“I had a really debilitating chest pain that was only relieved if I bent over like this (leaning forward), and that’s a classic symptom of pericarditis,” she reportedly said. “And then when you lay back, it gets way worse because that wall is kind of inflamed around your heart.”
She said she also had “a really intense shortness of breath … almost having to suck through a straw.”
While she just revealed the issue last year, Pearce reportedly said it is something she has actually been dealing with for nearly five years.
“I’m doing better,” she said. “I’m healthy. I’m trying to find my new normal. I have what’s called recurrent pericarditis. I’ve had several flares since 2020.”
Pearce also has a history of heart issues in her family, per Fox, with her father surviving a widowmaker heart attack when she was 19.
She told “Today” that she leaned on her father and his experience with heart issues in dealing with her own.
“Just for the help through the anxiety that comes with, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m having a chest pain, am I OK, am I OK?’” she said. “It’s been really helpful to have somebody in your family that can really help you with those things.”
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