<blockquote class="reddit-embed-bq" style="height:316px" data-embed-height="316">
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadandNeckCancer/comments/1vz0uqe/hi_reddit_were_dr_kyle_ettinger_oral_and/">Hi Reddit! We're Dr. Kyle Ettinger, oral and maxillofacial surgeon, and Dr. Tim Malouff, radiation oncologist, from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We specialize in caring for people with head and neck cancer. Join us on September 2nd, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. CST for an #AMA. Ask us anything!</a><br> by
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MayoClinicMN/">u/MayoClinicMN</a> in
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/HeadandNeckCancer/">HeadandNeckCancer</a>
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Quoted from Reddit:

September 2nd, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. CST for an #AMA

" Hello Reddit!

We're excited to join r/HeadandNeckCancer for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) about head and neck cancer!

Whether you're newly diagnosed, exploring treatment options, preparing for surgery, or caring for someone with head and neck cancer, we're here to answer your questions about tumor removal, reconstructive surgery, treatment planning, quality of life after treatment, and the latest innovations.

I’m Dr. Kyle Ettinger, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and surgical oncologist at Mayo Clinic specializing in the surgical treatment of head and neck cancer. My work focuses on removing cancer while preserving and restoring important functions like speaking, chewing and swallowing through advanced reconstructive surgery when needed. I’m here today to answer your questions about head and neck cancer, reconstructive surgery, surgical innovations, and what people can expect throughout their care journey.

I’m Dr. Tim Malouff, a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic, treating people with head and neck cancer. I specialize in modern radiation treatments, such as proton therapy and SBRT, designed to target cancer while minimizing impact on healthy tissue. I’m excited to answer your questions about radiation therapy, emerging technologies, and the future of cancer treatment.

Click here to learn more about head and neck cancer care at Mayo Clinic.

Disclaimer: This AMA is for general educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice from your healthcare team.

You can start submitting your questions now—we're looking forward to the discussion! "

In case anyone in the OCF world happens upon this and is not on the Reddit Head and Neck group and may want to participate in this.

Not sure how the UBBCode will parse out all the Reddit embed text, but worse case scenario people should be able to highlight the URL and post it into a browswer window or just search Reddit for that post.

Praying for her.

Hello Susan2992,

Sorry for your personal loss of your friend ChristineB. I have read many, many of her contributions on hear like Brian and Nels and others who were more active way back with similar experiences and things I searched for.

Sorry also to hear you are experiencing a recurrence, I hope the treatment for that comes along well for you.

I did see the Reddit group does hotlink to the Oral Cancer Foundation.

Maybe its mostly because there is a Reddit and Facebook app, and its a few extra formal steps to log on to a web based forum.

There seem to be more "off the cuff" type entries, but at least for the Reddit Head and Neck group, it seems like there are multiple new posts every day.

It does seem as if folks with pretty specific types of tumors and complications get responses from folks with similar situations pretty quick and often several responses.

One example is that two doctors from the Mayo Clinic's Head and Neck Cancer are doing a call in type seminar, Sept 2nd I think it is, free, for anyone to call in and ask questions or just listen to the things other people ask them, one a surgeon I believe and the other an oncologist.

I don't know that they asked anyone to post that anywhere on here.

I guess I could hot link to it in a new post, just passing along information....?

Best wishes,

R/
CQ

Hello Steve H,

Welcome to the forums.

Sorry to hear about your new journey into chemo and radiation therapy.

I hear tonsillectomies are often quite brutal too. I hope you are recovering very well from that ordeal and making daily progress.

If you don't see too many replies on here with folks with similar experience as you, you can try the Head and Neck group on Reddit.

The Oral Cancer Support forums have lots of great archived experiences of people for the past few decades, and are readily searchable.

I tend to think of the things posted on these forums here a bit more self-regulated and moderated than some of the posts on Reddit, but they seem to be pulling in more active daily users.

I just saw a post on there today that some Head and Neck doctors from the Mayo Clinic are going to be doing an open forum session on Sept 2 I think it was, where anyone could ask them questions. One I believe is a surgeon, the other a radiologist.

So its not just lay people, but solid medical information...just have to be weary of the source. Lots of upset family members and people not necessarily privy to what all the doctor is telling the patient directly...that kind of thing, people kind of reaching out in desperation.

They do moderate there too and say things like none of us can answer those types of questions, you (or the patient) needs to ask their doctor to explain _________ why.....

If you haven't familiarized yourself with the Forum Search bar in the upper right hand of the forum windows, you may want to do a few searches for tonsil cancer, tonsillectomy....You can try direct messaging individual posters with private messages if you like too.

I hope and pray your recovery from the tonsil surgery goes well and your treatment plan comes together with excellent results, and limited side effects , and rapid healing from those too.

Best wishes,

R/
CQ

Hello JenW,

Welcome to the forums, and sorry to hear of your recent cancer diagnosis.

It sounds like Nels would be an active leader on the boards here who has been down the road you are looking at (and a bunch of other folks who may not be so active any more).

My surgery was on so small a lesion no graft material of any sort was required, and no chemo or radiation either, so I can't offer you answers myself.

As I recall Nels' experience the healing from the radiation was more harsh than surgery.

A lot of it depends on the specific surgery, specific portion(s) of tongue they have to remove.

They also have different types of radiation, and different doses, different schemes etc...

Nels would probably tell you go out and enjoy your favorite foods now, pack on a few pounds and enjoy eating (if you can with your biopsy site recovery and/or the remaining tumor perhaps making eating "less than fun").

Not sure if you have seen any of the groups on Facebook and or Reddit yet, but the Reddit one is quite active.

It seems the Reddit one is often more anecdotal experiences, and less self-moderated, but there are a lot of active daily users, just have to take everyone's input with a grain of salt, and use the information as spring board to ask your doctors and medical folks.

Glad you have a support network forming around you, that's so crucial.

Stay motivated, and keep the good fight, I hope and pray your treatment plans go well with great success and endurable suffering as you recover and work through the radiation/chemo therapies.

R/
CQ

I am quite saddened to hear that ChristineB passed. A quick review of the top posters on this site shows her being no 1. A testament to the level of outreach and advocacy she exhibited. We will miss her voice her. Love and blessings to her family and friends.

I agree that many OCF members have switched to Facebook groups. I belong to a few and there is generally more activity there than on the OCF forum. For many reasons I prefer the OCF forum over a Facebook group.

Some sad news to report - ChristineB passed away last year. She was a personal friend, a wonderful and kind person, and did a wonderful job welcoming people to the OCF forum. RIP Christine!