Hi,

My dad passed away from complications of oral mouth cancer in February 2021. In August 2021, he complained of ear pain and a sore on his tongue (he never complained about anything). So he went to two doctors and a dentist who gave him antibiotics and said it should clear up. After two months of more suffering he saw an ENT who didn’t like the look of the “sore” on his tongue and sent him for biopsy and petscan. He was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma in October 2021. He was 73 years old and given two options surgery to remove part of his tongue and put skin from his forearm on tongue to rebuild it or radiation/chemo. He and my mom chose the radiation/chemo route. Doctors reassured him that the treatment would be difficult but that he would be grilling at his bbq in the summer. He was such a trooper throughout his treatment only to find out in January 2021 that he had a “lump” at the base of his tongue and in lymphnodes . He quickly went down hill with not being able to eat (feeding tube inserted) and he developed aspiration pneumonia and sepsis - he was taken by ambulance to the ER where they intubated him. With covid restrictions he had to go to the hospital by himself. After 4 days the doctors recommended that he come off the respirator as the cancer had spread. He died February 20 2021. He was in so much pain at the end of his life. Im still traumatized by this experience and pray that he is now at peace. I miss him more than anything and feel so lost at times. He was my rock. I know he would want me to take care of myself and be a great mom to his precious grandchildren. However, I'm struggling. I was thinking that maybe I could put my energy toward volunteer work regarding early signs of mouth cancer. Sorry for any typos. Writing from my phone