After three months of rest, the doctors assured Stewart that his singing voice would come back. He would have to learn to sing all over again because the muscle memory in those cut muscles was gone. It took more than six months and an agonizing period of raspy vocal exercises with a coach before he could sing a verse of a song. After months of rehabilitation, Stewart is back to full strength and singing again.

Bret Michaels

Bret Michaels, front man for 80s hair band Poison, was diagnosed at age six with diabetes which requires constant blood monitoring and insulin. In 2010, Michaels suffered a brain aneurysm amidst rumors that it was illicit drug use that caused it. But a 2007 study demonstrated that people with diabetes were three to four times more likely to have bleeding in the brain, particularly for those under 55. That same year, he also had an emergency appendectomy.

In 2014, Michaels left the stage when his blood sugar dropped dangerously low. He couldn’t return to the stage that night but the tour continued. That fall, he underwent kidney surgery, probably an outcome from his diabetes. He is fine and continues to tour and work in television. However, he definitely had his share of health obstacles.

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong, the world-famous cyclist, was diagnosed in October 1996 with testicular cancer. The next day the testicle was removed. By the time the testicular cancer was found, the cancer had metastasized to his lungs, abdomen and brain – not a very good diagnosis for a positive outcome. Tumors, some as large as golf balls, were found in his lungs. Cancer was also found in his abdomen and an MRI found two lesions caused by the cancer in Armstrong’s brain.

He had surgery to remove all the tumors and lesions -- then studied up on cancer as if he were studying for the medical SATs. The more information he found about the cancer, the more empowered he felt. He created a supportive community of cancer survivors around himself. He braved chemotherapy and by 1999 he was back to cycling at a world-winning pace.