Rikki Rockett, the drummer for Poison, confronted the possibility during his cancer treatment that physicians might need to surgically remove his tongue. When chemotherapy and radiation proved unable to halt his illness, Rockett — whose given name is Richard Allan Ream — began recording audio and video messages for his children, explaining in an interview with a television news outlet that the prospect of surgical removal of his tongue had prompted him to capture his voice, his guidance, and his personal words for them to draw on as they grew up.
Rockett, whose body weight fell to 161 pounds over the course of treatment, noted that the prospect of losing his tongue left him uncertain whether he would survive, adding that a feeding tube would likely have been necessary and that he did not expect to have lived much longer under those circumstances. He placed the potential extension of his life at somewhere between one and two additional years.
Rockett, now 65, reports that his cancer has been in remission for ten years. His memoir, "Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison," traces both his rise to prominence during the 1980s and a drawn-out health struggle that ran concurrently with that period.
In the year his illness began, Rockett along with members of his household started experiencing throat irritation. Antibiotics were administered to all of them, yet his condition failed to improve as the others had. A scope-guided inspection of his nose and throat followed at his next appointment with a physician.
During that examination, the physician noticed something that prompted concern, telling Rockett — as he later recounted — that a biopsy was needed because the finding looked abnormal, though a cancer diagnosis could not yet be confirmed. Rockett described that moment as the one that altered the course of his life. Records from the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance show he was subsequently found to have HPV-related throat cancer in 2015, with the cancer having established itself at the base of his tongue.
In his memoir, Rockett wrote that a sore throat and an enlarged lymph node had been bothering him for well over a month, and that each act of swallowing sent a sharp jolt of pain through the throat. Following his diagnosis, he underwent radiation and chemotherapy, and in his written account he described how solid food eventually became impossible to tolerate, leaving him dependent on soup, shakes, and water as his body weight fell noticeably.
Rockett also disclosed in a written post that his throat cancer diagnosis had left him unable to consume food or liquids, noting that at the peak intensity of his condition, even a small amount of water became nearly impossible to get down.
Rockett disclosed to a television news outlet that his illness had advanced to stage 4, after which he underwent five radiation sessions per week alongside weekly chemotherapy for three months — a course of treatment that ultimately did not produce the desired result. The possibility of removing his tongue was raised in conversations among the medical team.
In his memoir, he placed his odds of surviving at somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. He later described how standard treatment had not produced the hoped-for result, a setback that led him to enrol in an experimental drug combination at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, a course of therapy that ultimately proved effective.
Rockett enrolled in a UC San Diego Health clinical trial pairing two agents — pembrolizumab, marketed as Keytruda, and epacadostat. Doctors gave Rockett the all-clear on throat cancer in July 2016.
At one point, the swelling in Rockett's tongue became pronounced enough that he grew worried about whether his airway remained unobstructed. A short time later, a scan brought news pointing toward recovery. Rockett noted in a written account that the first PET scan had already cleared roughly 90 percent of the cancer, and that a follow-up scan found none remaining.
In his written account, Rockett described the doctor as visibly taken aback by the test findings, though the physician went on to advise that treatment would need to continue in order to reduce the chance of the cancer returning. Around eight months into that course of treatment, imaging was producing clear results, but a rise in white blood cell counts then raised concern, and further investigation led to a separate diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukaemia — a condition Rockett characterised as a predisposition.
The condition involves a chromosomal rearrangement in which the BCR-ABL gene fusion arises from an exchange of material between two chromosomes. Carriers of the Philadelphia chromosome face an elevated risk of developing the condition.
Facing a second cancer diagnosis after already navigating one, Rockett described his state of mind in writing, though he noted that his hematologist's composed manner at their appointment offered some reassurance. The specialist conveyed that, among leukaemia diagnoses, chronic myeloid leukaemia — linked to an acquired chromosomal change called the Philadelphia chromosome — was among the more manageable forms a patient could receive.
"The condition responds well to treatment and can sometimes be resolved entirely," the doctor noted, adding that the same prescription started at that visit has remained part of the ongoing care plan. The treatment carries a range of adverse reactions, though monitoring has shown the CML to be in full remission, with no instances of detection recorded across an extended run of years.
"There must be a reason why I'm still here, I think to this day," Rockett said. He described himself as having been free of cancer for a decade. Performing regularly with his band Rockett Mafia has kept him occupied, and he noted that energy and unfinished work continue to drive him forward.
Rockett also noted that his children have attended Poison shows on multiple occasions, and that the drive to provide for his children had formed a considerable part of what kept him going through the ordeal.
