Hello, my name is Paul from Carlisle Iowa. I suffered from stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma with the primary tumor located at the base of tongue. I was not a smoker. My cancer was from the HPV 16 virus. I am 3 months out from my last chemo and radiation treatment. My CT scan after 3 months review indicated that I am now cancer free.

On Dec 5th 2018 my throat swelled shut. This is a very rare reaction to chemo/radiation. I almost died that day. I was taken by ambulance to ER, intubated and put on ventilator for 1 week. I then was taken off the ventilator and had a tracheotomy.

My trach has been removed as well as my feeding tube and I am doing pretty well. As of today I have lost 45ibs. I am happy to answer any questions and discuss my experiences with this type of cancer.