Poison drummer Rikki Rockett faced the horrifying prospect of losing his tongue as he battled stage 4 throat cancer. The 65-year-old musician, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, recalled the dark days when doctors informed him that if traditional treatments failed, they would have to remove his tongue. This led Rockett to record heartfelt messages for his young children, ensuring they could remember his voice if he did not survive. "I wanted them to know what I sounded like and my advice to them growing up," he told Fox News Digital.
Rockett's health struggles began in 2015 when he, along with his family, suffered from sore throats. While everyone else recovered after a round of antibiotics, Rockett's symptoms persisted. A doctor examined him and found something suspicious that led to a biopsy. "I don’t know if it’s cancer, but it’s suspicious, and we got to do a biopsy," Rockett recalled. This moment marked a turning point in his life.
His diagnosis of HPV-related throat cancer came soon after. The disease affected the base of his tongue, causing severe pain and difficulty swallowing. He recounted in his memoir, "Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison," that he struggled to eat solid food, eventually being unable to consume anything at all. His weight plummeted to just 161 pounds during treatment.
Rockett detailed his experience of living with cancer in stark terms. "I’ve got throat cancer. At its worst, I struggle to swallow even a gulp of water," he wrote. The toll on his body was immense, and the emotional impact was equally profound, especially for his children. "This morning, my son had to watch tears running down my cheeks as I tried to eat a spoonful of soup," he shared.
After months of grueling radiation and chemotherapy, the treatments failed to yield the desired results. Discussions of removing his tongue filled Rockett with dread. "I would’ve most likely had a feeding tube," he said. "I don’t think I would’ve lived much longer." Faced with such grim prospects, he initially believed he had only a "40 or 50 percent chance of living."
Determined to fight, Rockett participated in a clinical trial at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. This involved an experimental drug combination of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and epacadostat. "I had to roll the dice," he stated. Thankfully, the gamble paid off, and by July 2016, he was declared free of throat cancer.
The initial results from his PET scans were remarkable. "The crazy thing was that my first PET scan showed that 90 percent of the cancer was already gone," he wrote. "And by the second PET scan, it was all gone." Despite the dramatic results, his medical team cautioned that treatment would need to continue to reduce the risk of recurrence.
Just as he seemed to be turning a corner, Rockett encountered another health scare. Months into his recovery, he began experiencing high white blood cell counts, leading to another cancer diagnosis: chronic myeloid leukemia. This blood cancer is often linked to a genetic abnormality known as the Philadelphia chromosome. "I mean, I just went through one cancer, and now I was facing another one," he said.
His hematologist reassured him. "You picked the best leukemia you could. It’s very treatable, and sometimes curable," she told him. Rockett began a new medication that has kept the leukemia in remission for several years. "There must be a reason why I’m still here, I think to this day," he said, reflecting on his survival.
Despite the lasting effects of his treatment, Rockett is focusing on the positives. He has watched his children grow up and is grateful for the time he has with them. "Sometimes my voice gets rough, or I get dry," he noted, attributing this to the damage done to his salivary glands during radiation.
Ten years after his throat cancer diagnosis, Rockett’s journey through illness and recovery has given him a renewed perspective on life. He told Fox News Digital that his medical team “actually saved my life.” His memoir offers a candid look at both the highs of rock stardom and the lows of battling cancer, capturing a decade-long saga of resilience and hope.
According to NY POST.
