Artist Raul Malo of The Mavericks performs in concert at the Ryman Auditorium on Friday, April 7, 2017 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Laura Roberts/Invision/AP)Laura Roberts/Invision/AP
Raul Malo is back, and he is one tough dude.
A week after fans of Malo, the frontman for The Mavericks, were hit with the news that he had been hospitalized as he battles cancer, he returned to social media with a major update.
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.
“Speaking of feeling good … the other day was a really fun day,” he added. “I got out of the house on a beautiful afternoon. Had to get dressed up to have my picture taken by our friend. We had no plans to do any of this. But I told him the story of the guitar (it is a good one) and he told me he wants me to come down to his studio.”
Several of the photos were of Malo posing with a guitar.
“This 1963 (Fender) Jazzmaster was in the flood of 2010,” he wrote. “About a month ago I get a call from the guys (at) Glaser Instruments that she was ready for pick up! Can you imagine that? Fifteen years after the flood and she made it back. Anyways, a lot of people contributed to her resurrection. And we will have an accompanying video that tell this amazing story.”
Malo moved back to his health, promising to keep fans updated on how he was doing as he has since the beginning of his fight last year.
“And to those of you going through anything like this, hang in there, listen to your doctors, surround yourself with as much love as possible, and fight,” he added. “This little guitar came back to me after 15 years … we got this!”
Naturally, fans were thrilled to hear from Malo after the band announced he was heading into the hospital, and they would have to shuffle some shows around in the meantime.
“Hey everyone, unfortunately The Mavericks will no longer be performing with Dwight (Yoakam) this weekend in OKC (Feb. 21st) & Hidalgo (Feb. 23rd),” the post read. “Raul has been experiencing complications from his December surgery and is back in the hospital getting the care he needs to make a full recovery.
“We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding as Raul’s treatment continues,” the statement added.
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.”
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