Bruce Springsteen shares update on wife Patti Scialfa’s health after cancer diagnosis

Bruce Springsteen is sharing an update on his wife Patti Scialfa’s cancer battle.

In 2024, the rocker, 76, and his longtime wife Patti, 73, shared with the world that she had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

During a new (albeit virtual) appearance for the Pan-Mass Challenge’s annual event, he revealed to the world how his wife is doing nearly a decade into her health battle.

Bruce Springsteen’s wife Patti Scialfa’s health update

“Since 1980, you have inspired a community that has done something remarkable,” he told the crowd in support of the PMC, an annual charity bike ride to raise funds for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, per Rolling Stone. “You’ve never stopped believing that ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference. And because of that countless lives have been saved.”

He then mentioned his wife and fellow E Street Band member Patti, saying that she “has been living with her multiple myeloma for over eight years, but now thankfully she is in remission.”

Bruce continued: “However, like millions of families facing cancer, we’ve learned what every patient learns, [that] hope has a face. It’s our physician who refuses to stop searching and caring, [and] it’s our nurse who sits beside us when we’re scared and always makes our journey just a little bit easier.”

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The “Dancing in the Dark” singer also stated that his wife’s cancer battle changed his perspective on “medical research,” adding: “It’s the reason families find hope when hope seems hardest to find. When we lose sight of that, we lose sight of one another, and that’s too high a price for anyone to pay.”

He concluded: “I’ve spent my life writing songs about the people who keep believing when life gives them every reason not to and for those who refuse to leave someone behind. That’s always been the best of America to Patti and I,” then performing an acoustic version of his track “Born to Run.”

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What is multiple myeloma?

Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer forming from the plasma cells, a type of white blood cell. Cancerous cells build up in the bone marrow and overpower the antibody-producing white blood cells.

Per the Mayo Clinic: “In the bone marrow, the cancer cells crowd out healthy blood cells. Rather than make helpful antibodies, the cancer cells make proteins that don’t work right. This leads to complications of multiple myeloma.”

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Patti Scialfa’s cancer journey

In the 2024 documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Patti disclosed that in 2018, she had been diagnosed with the disease, making it difficult for her to perform. As a result, she’d taken a step back from touring and public appearances.

“This affects my immune system, so I have to be careful what I choose to do and where I choose to go,” she shared at the time. “Every once in a while, I come to a show or two and I can sing a few songs on stage, and that’s been a treat. That’s the new normal for me right now, and I’m OK with that.”