It is a scary thought. The doctors really had no answers to why i got it. But i'm proof that no one is ammune to getting this disease.

The next step for me I think, is to try and raise awareness. Doctors and patients need to become aware that it's possible to get this disease even if they don't fit the description. So maybe next time when a young person comes in to their local doctor with a 'mouth ulcer' they won't be dismissed like I was originally. It took until the 3rd or 4th appointment before they finally acknowledged that i should have it checked/biopsied by a specialist! I'd discovered the 'ulcer' several months earlier.

I've begun writing a letter that i'm going to send in to a tv show over here called 'the 7pm project'. It's a nightly news show watched by a big audience here. They're always promoting charities and it's dissapointing to never see oral cancer given a mention anywhere. I'm aiming high i know, but it's worth a go


21 @ diagnosis. Tongue cancer(SCC) non smoker,HPV negative. 11 hour Surgery (30+ glands removed-left side neck dissection, 'jaw split' for 'access'-left side tongue dissection, graft & artery from left thigh for re-construction of tongue.44 rad t'ments.4x cisplatin.no peg.Clear PET scan 12/5/2011!