Hello!
My husband, Shel Sax, was profoundly helped by the OCF and, in particular, this forum. He lived more than 20 years as a head and neck cancer survivor. Shel died in August 2024 after a valiant journey with Brian Hill as his mentor and hero. I'm writing to you on behalf of a dear friend, Linda, who lives in British Columbia..

Many of you may remember that entering the OC world and website can be a bit overwhelming. Linda isn't quite ready to post yet, so I offered to share her story on her behalf- at least for now.

While I live in Vermont, USA, Shel was Canadian. We lived in BC for 12 years, and I continue to have close ties there. I deeply value Canadian universal and accessible health care. At the same time, specialized care can sometimes involve frustrating delays, and reassurance is not always aligned with how quickly things can evolve.

Linda was first diagnosed in April 2025. She had discovered a lesion at the site of a failed implant back in 2019; that area was removed in June 2025. The ENT surgeon initially reassured her that she didn’t need to worry and suggested a follow-up in a few months. As a witness to Shel's experience,, I encouraged her to find an oral cancer clinic. She was able to obtain appointments at the BC Cancer Center in Vancouver in September 2025.

A second lesion near the first grew and was removed in October 2025, along with a section of the cheek due to inflamed lichen planus. A third lesion appeared in Feb 2026, at the site of the second lesion, and was removed.

Last month (March 2026), Linda had a bone fragment removed from the gum; pathology showed osteoradionecrosis medication-related, possibly related to Fosomax taken about 25 years ago. To date, no one has suggested that the cancer originated due to necrosis.

All three lesions were confirmed to be carcinoma in situ. The biopsy also showed p53 abnormal overexpression pattern and abnormal p16. The site of her most recent surgery is positive for moderately invasive Squamous cell carcinoma.

Linda is understandably concerned about how quickly new lesions are appearing. She is being cared for at the BC Cancer Center, where they plan to see her every three months and develop a treatment plan. I've encouraged her to call to put her on the cancellation list.

Is there anything else she should consider? For example, there is a Metabolic Cancer Clinic in Vancouver; is this something of value as complementary care?

Also, are there any Canadians (or others familiar with BC Cancer/oncology pathways) who might be willing to reach out personally to Linda or share experience with a similar situation? And/or can you direct me/us to previous threads/posts that could be of help to Linda? Or should we start a new thread, and if so, where?


Thank you for any help or guidance you can offer.

With warmest regards,
Peggy Sax
Cornwall, Vermont

Thank you Chester,

Ok I think I cracked the code on the donations website. Something about it was not very intuitive to me, but was able to find the log on page to reset my password.

It did capture my donation from this year. I am pretty sure I did one a few years ago, but that's not in my history, maybe I selected some guest donor option.

Doesn't matter.

Thank you for considering a memorial fund drop down option or link or whatever you come up with for Brian.

I did end up in some configuration page for Word Press that said I was not authorized to "View Donor Information" in that Profile>Personal Options tab of the "Edit Profile" options from the top right of the screen.

I eventually figured out if I clicked on the link in the upper left hand corner of that screen it took me to the https://donate.oralcancerfoundation.org/ page with me still logged in to my profile. From there, once I was logged in I was able to click the Big Menu Link "Donor Dashboard", and Eureka that was where the data was.

Anway thank you for what you do for OCF in tending to all these things.

As I get older, I can tell, adapting to the zillion different forum formats and web based interactions is going to continue to get more challenging as things get more variation.

Peace, Out and THANK YOU again!

R/
CQ