THE BEAST

Just seen the horrible news that Bruce Corbitt has passed away today, R.I.P Bruce, now you can rest easy and look down upon all of us from your Heavy Metal throne in the sky... - Robert Pilson (Noslip records)

RIGOR MORTIS and WARBEAST vocalist Bruce Corbitt died earlier today (Friday, January 25) after a battle with esophageal cancer. He was 56 years old.

Corbitt began his fight against esophageal cancer in May 2017. He went through extreme radiation and chemotherapy treatment before they could attempt surgery. Just when everyone thought Bruce would surely be out of the woods, his first doctor's visit in 2018 brought him the horrible news that the cancer was still there and that it was at Stage 4. He was given two months to two years to live but was told that he would be lucky to make it a year. Due to issues with insurance companies not wanting to approve a second opinion at MD Anderson in Houston, Bruce was forced to use a second opinion in Dallas. His hopes were raised when he was told there was a trial that he could be part of and that there were great results from this trial. A week after signing all the paperwork for the trial treatment, Bruce received a phone call advising him that, unfortunately, his cancer was one that was not treatable with the trial treatment. Bruce was upset, but he didn't let that stop him from fighting.

"I may not have won this fight, but I did beat it longer than most would have," Corbitt said in a Facebook Live video in late December 2017. "I got some extra time in life. I couldn't have done it without my beautiful wife Jeanna Corbitt . The hardest part for me is just knowing that I will have to leave her."

Jeanna Corbitt said last March: "I can't even imagine my world without my husband in it. We both feel so cheated out of our future together at this point. We try to make the best of every moment we have together, even when he feels terrible. He's such a brave and tough man... MY Superhero!"

Bruce , who previously survived a stabbing and a heart attack, told Billboard last August that he had "a 2.8 percent chance of living five years. So what am I going to do, sit around and cry about it or be that 2.8 percent?" he asked rhetorically.

Bruce 's medical bills from 2017 alone totaled over $1 million in charges.

Earlier this month, Corbitt announced in a Facebook Live video that he was entering hospice care with a 24-hour morphine drip. "Man, I'm still fighting, fighting, fighting," he said, raising his fist.

All three of WARBEAST 's albums were released through Philip Anselmo 's label, Housecore Records . The PANTERA frontman was even the best man at Corbitt 's wedding when he and Jeanna were married in 2012. "I've seen his world crash down around him when he was young. I've always felt there is no fucking way I could let him down as a friend and business partner," Anselmo told Billboard . " Bruce is my big brother, and that's how we roll. His family is my family, and vice versa, yet again."

Via Blabbermouth