POISON Drummer Rikki Rockett Defied 10% Survival Odds and Beat Stage 4 Cancer Without Surgery

More than a decade after receiving a terrifying diagnosis, POISON drummer Rikki Rockett has offered a powerful update on his health—and it’s nothing short of miraculous.

In a recent conversation with Backstage Pass Radio host Randy Hulsey, Rockett, whose real name is Richard Allan Ream, opened up about his journey from a stage four oral cancer diagnosis to a stunning, long-term remission—thanks to a then-experimental treatment.

“I am coming up on nine years in remission,” Rockett shared. “And it was pretty miraculous, really, ’cause I only really had about a 10 percent chance of making it, because I was stage four.”

➤ Chemo and Radiation Didn’t Work — But Immunotherapy Did

Despite undergoing both chemotherapy and radiation, Rockett’s condition showed no improvement. But a clinical trial at Moores Cancer Center at UCSD (University of California, San Diego) turned everything around.

“I wound up down at Moores Cancer Center… and Dr. Ezra Cohen took me on as a patient and got me on a clinical trial. And in about nine to 12 weeks, it was gone. It was amazing.”

The immunotherapy treatment wasn’t widely available at the time. Rockett was one of the early patients to try it, and his success story helped accelerate its approval.

“Yeah, it is [an alternative to chemo and radiation]. And a lot of people are receiving it now. It got approval shortly after my trial ended. And so my trial was a big part of that.”

➤ How It All Started: The Signs He Didn’t Ignore

Rockett recalled the warning signs that led to his diagnosis. Initially, it seemed like a routine illness—until it wasn’t.

“The whole family had a sore throat, including me… My wife got better, the kids got better. I didn’t… And when [the doctor] did [a scope], there was something else going on. And it was a lump on the base of my tongue.”

Another major red flag? A swollen lymph node that was visibly protruding.

“You can feel ’em sometimes if you’re sick… but this was, you could see it in the mirror.”

➤ Why He Reached Stage 4 — and Refused to Give Up

Rockett explained that cancer staging in head and neck cases is often aggressive, and in his case, things worsened after initial treatments failed.

“We did the chemo and radiation… and it didn’t work. So now it jumped to the other side, there’s other lymph nodes involved, and that’s why it became stage four.”

Doctors considered surgery, but it would have meant removing his tongue entirely—a prospect Rockett couldn’t accept.

“I don’t know if I wanna live with no tongue and a bag and all this stuff… What I know I do wanna try is this immunotherapy.”

Thankfully, the decision paid off. After just one imaging session, nearly all of the cancer was gone. Weeks later, it disappeared completely.

“And it’s never come back.”