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Steve French
(September 2005 Issue)
Beating Drums - And Cancer After a bout with
cancer, Steve French is happily back at in
the saddle with country
singer Billy Ray Cyrus. About a year ago French discovered a very small
bump on his neck. Doctors
said it was, "nothing," but French continued
to pursue an answer. Finally he had the lump removed, only to find out
it was
indeed cancerous. "It was nothing I could really see, but
something I could feel," explains the forty-two-year-old.
French went through some tough times dealing with all of the therapy
that followed. "I couldn't eat anything for
months," he admits, "and I
went from 182 pounds to 127. I missed a lot of shows with Billy. But
there is a happy ending,
because I went through the whole treatment and
now I'm fine."
Cyrus held the job open for French while his
drum tech, Billy Copeland,
took over while he recuperated. "Other than the fact that he doesn't
sing, he did a great job,
and I'm so thankful for that. If Billy had to
hire someone from the outside, it might have been harder for me to get
my job
back. Everything went as smoothly as possible."
Although he has another four years to go to be officially
pronounced
cancer-free, French, who lives in West Virginia, says he's feeling very
optimistic. "I appreciate my life a
whole lot more now."
Robyn Flans
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