Former ‘Rescue Me’ child actress credits country music for helping her heal after leukemia diagnosis

Natalie Archer was born to perform.

After years of musical theater and commercial stints, Natalie, born Natalie Distler, booked a TV pilot at the age of 14 for a show called “Rescue Me,” which turned into a seven-year gig working alongside Denis Leary as his wild-child daughter, Colleen.

In the midst of finding success on the popular FX firefighter series, Natalie doubled down on her efforts and pursued her other true love, music. 

She met the man of her dreams, Kyle Archer, in an elevator ride to a producer’s studio in New York.

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They began creating music together, got married and packed up and moved to Nashville after receiving a publishing deal to become full-time songwriters and musicians. Then, everything changed.

Natalie was taken to the emergency room after losing consciousness in a grocery store in Nashville. She was diagnosed with leukemia the same day.

‘Rescue Me’

Natalie grew up outside Manhattan and would trek into the city with her mom for auditions. She always had “a real passion” for performing, and being able to play Colleen Gavin on “Rescue Me” offered Natalie the chance to act out some of her “teenage angst.”

WATCH: Natalie Archer remembers growing up on set of ‘Rescue Me’

“It was such an amazing time in my life and a memory that I’ll carry with me forever,” Natalie told Fox News Digital. “I got to be very rebellious and a little, I don’t know … a little wacky. And I got to get it out of my system kind of through her. I loved playing her.

“A lot of it went over my head when I first started, but it was a really fun group of people to grow up around. And everyone was just so talented and so wonderful.” 

Love story

After the show wrapped, she found a calling in music. A fateful elevator ride with a boy from Montana was just the start of her love story with Kyle Archer, her husband and Archertown guitarist.

Record producers knew they were a good match, too, and asked them to write songs together in New York, an opportunity they didn’t pass up. 

“We had more, like, solo things happening with music and just kind of said, ‘OK, everybody, we’re going to try this, try this as a duo,'” Natalie said. 

They bounced around the country before landing in Nashville with a publishing deal.

Natalie and Kyle had been writing and performing as the duo Archertown with hit songs on the popular country drama “Nashville” but had put music on the back burner to focus on her health.

“We’re just working, writing songs and kind of, you know, living out that life,” Natalie told Fox News Digital of her fairytale life making music with Kyle in Nashville, Tennessee, before she was diagnosed with cancer.

‘World just changed in an instant’

Natalie began experiencing “pretty significant” signs that something was wrong with her body a month before she was rushed to the hospital.

“Kyle was playing a baseball game, so my sister-in-law drove me there. She was living in Nashville as well at the time, and we got there and they, you know, did my bloodwork,” Natalie said. “Moved me to another room, which wasn’t a good sign. And then Kyle finally made it, and they gave me the news that I had leukemia. 

“So, our world just changed in an instant. I was 24 at the time, So, I mean, otherwise, just like a young, healthy person.” 

From the emergency room, they went to a cancer center in Nashville.

“I was there for 30 days, and I began chemotherapy, I think, within two days,” she recalled. “It just … it completely changed our world. I think as much as we were so sad and devastated that we were, you know, living out this dream of ours essentially in Nashville, we were just like, ‘You know what? I think this is our sign to maybe move back to Montana.’”

WATCH: Natalie Archer recalls her leukemia diagnosis: ‘Our world changed in an instant’

Kyle grew up in Whitefish, an old logging town in western Montana near Glacier National Park. He made his way to Southern California for college, where he met fellow musician and best friend John Kaye.

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Months after her diagnosis and now living in a new state after their dreams of becoming successful singers and songwriters had come to a crashing halt, Natalie and Kyle were about to embark on a new journey.

“I think I’ll never forget being in the hospital and having, like, you know, all the doctors and … the whole team of nurses and everyone kind of, you know, standing around us and saying, ‘We just want you to know there’s no time to do any type of like … freezing the eggs or do anything. There’s just no time. We have to start this now,” Natalie said.

“There’s a huge chance that you’re not going to be able to have children.”

They were devastated.

“I remember looking at Kyle and saying, ‘You know, as long as we have each other that it doesn’t matter,” she said. “We can get through it, and we will have a family one day.”

Now four years cancer-free, Natalie began researching adoption agencies.

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‘God’s plan’

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“Maybe this is God’s plan, and we’re just going to, like, shift gears, and we’ll still have our family that, you know, that we want,” she said. “And that next week we found out I was pregnant.”

She gave birth to their son Boden in March 2019.

WATCH: Former child star remembers hearing ‘devastating’ news that she would never have children amid cancer battle

“After our son was born, it kind of opened our minds and like really ignited the passion of creating music,” Kyle said. “I sit down and play with him, and write songs … and just, like, get back to doing what we love. That’s kind of really what kick-started it back up.”

Like most of their steps in life, the jump back into music was more of a major leap, Archertown’s third member, John Kaye, said.

Kaye has music in his blood, too. He was raised by retired teacher Barbara and father George, who owned one of the last independent music stores in the San Fernando Valley before closing shop in 2021.

He left LA behind to start a new life in Montana and picked up playing music with his best buddy Kyle. 

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They mulled the idea of getting back into performing and were playing small showcases at Kyle’s mom’s antique shop, where the owner of a new, local festival heard them play.

“He offered them the opening spot of Under the Big Sky for noon on the very first day,” Kaye remembered. “The very first people to ever play the festival. That was kind of the start of our first real show together  — the three of us at a gigantic festival on a really big stage.”

Music and Montana’s healing energy

Folk, country and Americana fans flocked to the festival to catch Dwight Yoakam, “Yellowstone” star Ryan Bingham, Jamestown Revival and Jenny Lewis, with Archertown welcoming thousands of music lovers to the 350-acre ranch.

Under the Big Sky has become one of their favorite annual traditions, and they’ve shared the stage with Zach Bryan, Hank Williams Jr., Midland, Brothers Osborne and Elle King.

Their soulful songwriting and melodic tunes continue to reach many, thanks in part to the festival scene where they’ve sung alongside Zac Brown Band, Brett Eldredge, Dan + Shay, Jon Pardi and Russell Dickerson.

Natalie’s cancer has been in remission for 10 years, and she credits both music and Montana’s healing energy for saving her life. The couple also welcomed daughter Ednie into the world in November 2021.

WATCH: Country singer described finding inspiration to play music again after the birth of his son

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They’re surrounded by a “solid group of people” and hope to continue sharing their stories and experiences through songs and on stage.

“We’re just so grateful for where we are right now, and we just want to keep the train going,” Natalie said.