Country Star Paul Cauthen Reveals He Has Cancer: 'Life Is Short, Precious'

Country singer-songwriter Paul Cauthen opened up about his recent cancer diagnosis in a video he posted on Instagram on Thursday (March 13).

Cauthen, 39, acknowledged his recent absence on social media as he opened up about his health. The East Texas-born artist said he “had pneumonia on the road, and I was taking a bunch of steroids to get me through those shows.” His team posted a statement on February 6 to announce that Cauthen would take a break from touring “to take care of his mental and physical health.” Cauthen said in his update on Thursday that when he was on the road, “something woke me up and I was blue in my lips and white it my face.” He checked in with his tour bus driver, and asked him to pull over when he saw an exit for the airport in Des Moines, Iowa.  

“I flew home. I kind of shook myself, you know, and listened to myself for the first time in a long time,” Cauthen said. “I decided to go up to the Cooper Clinic in Dallas after getting healthy for a few weeks, and wanted to get my body checked out. So, I go up there and I get a bunch of scans done, and happened to be clear. Great heart, lungs, liver’s great. You know, (the doctor) said, ‘well, we do have this one little spot,’ what he called a ‘hot spot,’ and they found a mass in my right thyroid. And they told me that it is papillary carcinoma, and it’s cancer.

“Looking back at it all, you know, slowing down and taking some time to get healthy and getting off the road actually probably ended up saving my life,” he continued. “I have had a lot of time to reflect and realize that life is short and precious, and just know that I thank you so much for your unwavering support through it all. I will tour again. I will sing on stage again. I’m not done by any means. I’ll have new music. I will keep on writing and keep on doing what I know that I need to do. and I know that I’m a vessel on stage, and that God has me here for a reason, had me go up to the Cooper Clinic and get all this checked out for a reason. So, thank you, God bless you (and) be kind to one another.”

Cauthen’s update has drawn more than 1,300 supportive comments as of publication time on Thursday afternoon, including from fellow artists Elle King, Ben Chapman and more. See Cauthen’s update here: