Country star Charles Kelley of Lady A reveals heartbreaking health diagnosis as he insists he feels 'hopeful' and wants to 'keep working'

Charles Kelley of the country band Lady A announced Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer known as multiple myeloma.

Myeloma occurs in the plasma cells, which produce antibodies when healthy, but which when malignant release monoclonal proteins that can inflict organ damage.

Kelley disclosed his illness in an Instagram video that showed him sitting next to his wife of 17 years, Cassie McConnell, who clung to his right arm.

The 45-year-old singer insisted he felt 'really hopeful,' explaining that recent medical advances meant 'life expectancy just far exceeds what it used to be.'

He added that he hopes to be able to 'keep working' as he faces down his health crisis, explaining that he needed 'to be happy.'

'It's just another hurdle,' said the Georgia-born musician, assuring fans that he was 'pretty confident that we're going to get through it.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Kelley's representative for further comment. 

McConnell and Kelley exchanged vows in Nashville in 2009 and now share two sons - Ward, 10, and Archer, who turned one this month. 

In his new video, Kelley shared that he had 'this couple of random rib fractures that happened, which sparked my doctor into having me do several different blood tests,' one of which led to the discovery that he was suffering from multiple myeloma.

'And it's rare, but I’m young. I feel healthy and the treatments, I will say, have just come so far even in the past five years that even the life expectancy just far exceeds what it used to be. And I don't know, I feel really hopeful. I really do.'

He noted that he and McConnell 'have a friend going through this right now, and she’s been sharing some of her journey. She’s about two months ahead of me on this. And it really helped me so much watching that.'

Kelley, who disclosed in 2022 that he had gone to rehab and quit drinking after a bender that prompted his wife to threaten divorce, likened his current treatment process to the task of remaining on the wagon.

'I think in the same spirit of the way we've kind of shared a lot of my sobriety journey, just getting this stuff off your chest is so freeing, and it takes the power away from it a little bit, that we wanted to let y'all know what was going on,' he said.

'But we're going to get through it. I think, in sobriety, it's all about one day at a time, and that we're not in control, and so that's the way we're looking at it.'

Kelley expressed an intention to continue working for at least the next six months, during which time Lady A will release another album with a currently undisclosed title and will also be playing Christmas concerts.

He was of the belief his first half-year of treatment was 'not going to be too super invasive. I can still work. I think physically I will feel like myself. I'll have tough days, but you know, I want to keep working.'

Kelley maintained: 'I need to be happy and doing what I love to do and spending and soaking up as much time with my family as I can as well.'

He formed Lady A with Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood in Nashville in 2006, at which point the trio was known as Lady Antebellum.

Their hit songs include Need You Now - their most substantial crossover success - as well as American Honey, Just a Kiss, Our Kind of Love and Bartender.