Hi all - some of you may have read one of my first posts where I mentioned that I worked for the Ontario Dental Association. And for the past year had been working on an oral cancer awareness campaign for dentists, media and the public. Well the day In February when I went for my biopsy I watched a video put out by the American Dental Association and OralScan. The video featured two young women -- one in her early 30s, the other in her early 40s -- they both had the same surgery as I did. Do either of these women post on this discussion board? If so, I'd like to chat with you sometime.

Cathy. :p

Actually you can view that video on the multi-media page of the OCF website. Eva Cohen who is the young brunette in that piece, is someone that I talk with on a regular basis. She does not post regularly here on the site, but I can tell you how to contact her if you wish. Eva's oral cancer was not found early by her dentists, and as a matter of fact, the issue went as far as legal proceedings... ironic since the ADA used her for the piece. But one thing that she does show is that young non-smoking people can not only get this, but also can survive it with the proper treatment. While she speaks on oral cancer to youths and other groups, and is always a proponent of early detection, it didn't happen in her case. Delays in diagnosis allowed hers to progress to the point that her treatments included multiple surgical grafts to rebuild the floor of her mouth. Eva is currently writing her story for use on the OCF web site, and a longer version that she hopes to turn into a book about the experience. As a professional storyteller, she is quite articulate, and I hope that her final work arrives at OCF in the near future. We will be putting up the first part of it in about a month.