QUIET RIOT Drummer FRANKIE BANALI: ‘I Know The Cancer Will Be The Death Of Me’

Frankie Banali

During a recent appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation,” QUIET RIOT drummer Frankie Banali spoke about his battle with stage four pancreatic cancer.

When speaking about his current health and prognosis, Banali said: “My oncologist at a recent visit said that the tumor in the pancreas has shrunk some. So that was positive. There was no more fluid in my lungs. And that a lot of the problems with the liver, they didn’t see any more, except that there’s two areas there that they have some concern, which is why just this week, I did another CT scan, and I’m waiting for the results to come back on that.

“My regular doctor called me up, because she came in to see my after chemo one, when I was still in the hospital,” he continued. “And I looked like death warmed over at that point, because the first chemo was very brutal on my system. And she couldn’t believe it. And she called me up last week, because she follows all my reports that come from the different technicians and my oncologist, and she says that the improvements that I’ve made are nothing short of a miracle.

“And I attest that, obviously, to the treatment that I’m getting, but also my diet, because, thank God, my wife Regina got me off, years ago, from being a complete and total Italian carnivore to being a vegetarian… My father was born in Sicily, and he loved to cook. So it was authentic and I learned from him.

“My mother was born in Spain and she loved to cook. And everything was authentic and I learned from her. At least four times a week, we’d have pasta at the house when I was a kid, with the meatballs and the sausage. And then the other three days of the week, it would be something Spanish, which was more carbs, rice and the beans and the fish and this and that and the other…

“What I’m saying is that I think it’s helpful for my recovery that I’m not eating meat and chicken or pork that, for the most part, have all these different things added to the food that they’re intaking. And I think the other thing is being able to assess your particular situation, and once I did that…

“I’m very aware that cancer, there’s no cure for it,” Banali added. “So I know the cancer will be the death of me. The question is when. And I think having a very positive attitude is very helpful. Yeah, it’s okay to have your ‘down’ days, ’cause I have ’em. It’s okay to be depressed about it, but it’s not okay to stay there. It’s more important to continue to live your life — not just for yourself, but for your family members and your friends, so they’re not sitting around getting depressed because you’re depressed or going on Facebook and having ‘death watch 2019’ or ‘death watch 2020.’ So it’s very important to be positive — and realistic. I’m not a pessimistic or an optimistic person. I’m a realist, I deal with facts as they’re presented to me.”