Poison drummer Rikki Rockett recorded messages for his kids as cancer threatened to take his tongue

Poison drummer Rikki Rockett was staring down a terrifying possibility as he battled cancer: Doctors might have to remove his tongue.

After chemotherapy and radiation failed to stop the disease, the rocker began recording messages for his young children so they could remember the sound of his voice.

"I was recording pieces of information for my kids so they could watch it, because the next step was to cut my tongue out if they had to," Rockett (born Richard Allan Ream) told Fox News Digital. "And I wanted them to know what I sounded like and my advice to them growing up, and I wanted them to hear it from me. I wanted them to understand what I was, what I thought I was or would become."

Rockett, whose weight dropped to 161 pounds during treatment, said the possibility of losing his tongue left him fearing he might not survive much longer.

"I would've most likely had a feeding tube," he said. "I don't think I would've lived much longer. It would've added another year or two. Some people do make it. Some people get all of that done and live for a long time. But I think a lot of times, with the way it was going with me, I don't think I would've survived, quite honestly."

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Now 65, Rockett says he has been free of cancer for a decade. His memoir, "Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison," chronicles his rise to stardom during the decadent '80s and his grueling health battle.

WATCH: POISON DRUMMER RIKKI ROCKETT RECALLS HEARTBREAKING CANCER BATTLE

In 2015, Rockett said he and his family . They were all prescribed antibiotics, but while everyone else recovered, his symptoms persisted.

Rockett returned to the doctor, who examined his nose and throat with a scope. During the examination, the doctor spotted something suspicious.

"I don't know if it's cancer, but it's suspicious, and we got to do a biopsy," Rockett recalled his doctor telling him. "My life changed at that very second."

According to the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance, Rockett was diagnosed with in 2015. The disease affected the base of his tongue.

According to his memoir, Rockett had experienced a sore throat and a swollen lymph node for more than a month. It hurt every time he swallowed. After doctors diagnosed him with cancer, he received radiation and chemotherapy.

"Before long, I couldn't eat solid food anymore," he wrote. "My weight dropped dramatically because all I could manage was soup, shakes and water. Eventually, I couldn't eat or drink anything at all."

Rockett wrote: "I've got throat cancer. At its worst, I struggle to swallow even a gulp of water. This morning, my son had to watch tears running down my cheeks as I tried to eat a spoonful of soup. He looked terrified."

Rockett told Fox News Digital that he eventually "wound up in stage 4." For three months, he received radiation five days a week, along with chemotherapy weekly, but he said the treatment failed. Doctors then discussed removing his tongue, according to Rockett.

Rockett was terrified. In his memoir, he wrote that he believed he had only a "40 or 50 percent chance of living." But he refused to give up.

"Even with all the treatment, it still didn't work," he recalled. "So then I got on an experimental drug combination at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, and it worked incredibly well. It's one of those things where, if it works, it's amazing. If it doesn't, you kind of go, 'Wow, maybe I wasted my time.' So I had to roll the dice. And I did. And when I rolled it, thankfully, it came out in my favor."

According to UC San Diego Health, Rockett parti