Rikki Rockett, Poison Drummer, Reveals Oral Cancer Diagnosis

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett has revealed that he’s been diagnosed with oral cancer.

Rikki Rockett’s Cancer

Rockett, 55, talked about his cancer diagnosis and how he was diagnosed over the summer on Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk Live Monday.

“[In] June, I kind of got sick. I had this horrible cold, sore-throat thing, and they were scoping me and they were doing biopsies, and nothing was coming up,” Rockett told Trunk, according to Blabbermouth. “Finally a doctor at USC did a biopsy and took a look and he said, ‘I believe you have oral cancer.’ And what it was is a tumor at the base of my tongue.”

“This is very similar to [Iron Maiden singer] Bruce Dickinson, very similar to Michael Douglas, similar to [Aerosmith bassist] Tom Hamilton, as far as I know; I don’t know the details of his,” Rockett added. “And two adjacent lymph nodes that it kind of… Normally, it does spread to the lymph nodes; that’s typical. That’s how you find out you have it ninety percent of the time.”

For his treatment, Rockett has undergone nine rounds of chemotherapy in addition to 35 rounds of radiation. Though the chemo and radiation is over, Rockett is still seeking out other treatments. “I go to this occupational therapy where they do swallowing and speech and stuff like that, to keep your neck going,” he said. “Regular therapy, acupuncture…”

Rockett expects that he’ll get a clean bill of health in February when he is scheduled to get a PET scan.

“[My doctors] said they suspect that there won’t be [any activity]. And so I’ve got fingers crossed. But I’m just gonna try to put that out of my mind for now and just continue to get better and feel better,” Rockett said. “There’s nothing that looks like it’s there anymore. They’ve gone down, they’ve looked at my throat… But it’s swelled up and it’s hard to tell, but it looks like it’s in remission.”