‘Death stared back at me’: Country singer with rare cancer didn’t think he’d make it to 2026

The year 2025 was a harsh one for country music and blues singer Nat Myers.

The 35-year-old lost his father and was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that causes growths around his heart and pulmonary arteries.

Despite a tough year, Myers shared an inspirational message on his Instagram about his resilience.

“25 you nearly got me,” he wrote. “You may have taken my daddy but you didn’t get to take poor me. 25, it was because of you I learned how much I is loved. I began wanting to be known for my enemies, but I leave wanting to be known for my family and friends.”

Myers announced his cancer diagnosis in February 2025.

In his New Year’s message, the country singer said the doctors told him “that I wouldn’t see March, let alone 2026, but now I won’t settle for nothin short of 2066.”

“I thought I was strong, but learned my strength came from so many doctors & nurses, the ten thousand hands I shook since I got my chance, the bread that been broken for me, since I first started playin,’” he continued. “This good village that gave me back my life & have asked nothing in return. My fingernails growing brittle as chalk, my braids falling out one by one – still I’m blessed to play my songs. 25, when I hobbled out my sick bed after bein’ told I would never walk out again, I knew I was a brother of Lazarus, I knew I was born again. You taught me the blessing and the curse, the poisons and the cures. I‘m a long shot that got to come home, starin’ into the eyes of death as death stared back at me. I knew completely, truly what blues is.”

Myers wrote that he was receiving what he believed was his 10th round of chemotherapy and that he had 40 infusions since February 2025.

“I’ve honestly lost track,” he wrote.

The country and blues musician thanked his fans “for standing in my corner even though all our time is hard nowadays.”

“I have seen the woods lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep,” he wrote. “Keep on goin’, it gets better.”