Marisa Salazar of Da Rezarekt: A Reason to FIGHT!

Text by Lauren Gordon. Images by G.W. Miller III.

“When I first heard, deep down I knew,” says Marisa Salazar (above, left) of the band Da Rezarekt of her diagnosis of stage III breast cancer. “I was steadily losing weight and I just didn’t feel right.”

Now, she is awaiting the results of a PET Scan to find cancer cells at the molecular level. The treatment plan is ever changing until doctors can determine if the cancer cells have metastasized anywhere else in the body, and they are trying to determine if she has the BRCA gene that makes her predisposed to cancer in both her breasts and ovaries.

“In lieu of that, I have to make a decision of whether I want both breasts removed,” Marisa explains.

Rather than have more tissue removed, she’s contemplating a full mastectomy.

“As everyone says, I can buy better ones in time,” she jokes.

The treatment plans so far are eight weeks of ACT Chemothereapy twice a week, followed by six weeks of radiation, Monday through Friday.

“I want to get this thing over and play again,” she offers. “It is driving me crazy.”

Although Da Rezarekt is not officially on hiatus, they’ve canceled a few recent shows.

“We’re like family,” affirms Marisa. “They’re my brothers.”

Supreem, the band’s vocalist, texted Marisa the week before her November 11 surgery to see if she was up for recording. She wrote a song about her struggles called “FIGHT!” with producer Ron DiSilvestro of Forge Recording.

“I was amazed by this,” she admits. “Everything came together. We recorded the song in several hours. The funny thing is that I couldn’t figure out what I would do for the lead before going into the studio. I usually have some sort of rough draft of what I’m going to do. The lead came just from the gut.”

She describes the whole process as cathartic and emotional.

“Along with the sadness, comes the frustration, the anger and the motivation. The music encompasses that,” she reveals. “As for Da Rez, we went in there and laid it down.”

Marisa has also designed FIGHT! gear with a pink ribbon replacing the “i,” which she credits to her friend, Leslie Botts. She plans to donate any profits to a cancer research team or MusiCares. She even wants to pitch the song to the American Cancer Society.

“I go through periods of denial and being pissed off that I have to put my life on hold,” she says. “But I have to take care of this now.”