A 45-year-old woman was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer. She had no idea that her giving up of taste buds after she could not feel the flavour of her favourite crisps could be the earliest symptoms.
Hazel Smyth credits a packet of Walkers Prawn Cocktail chips and their “tangy” flavour for helping her uncover that she had the deadly disease. After having noticed a stinging sensation on the right side of her tongue whenever she ate the chips, Hazel decided to see a doctor.
Initially, she thought it was due to a mild allergy or intolerance since the pain would subside after 10 minutes – but the discomfort kept on increasing with other foods as well.
Doctors performed two biopsies, which confirmed the presence of abnormal cells, confirming tongue cancer. “I was actually just eating prawn cocktail crisps, and I thought the right side of my tongue was stinging. I looked at my tongue, and there was nothing there – no redness or anything. Then it never happened again. A few months later, I had a chicken curry from the Chinese, and the tongue was stinging so much, I had to put cold water on my mouth,” Hazel, a resident of Belfast in Ireland, told The Sun.
Thereafter, Hazel underwent surgery the following month to cut out a section of her tongue before doctors discovered the cancer had spread into her lymph nodes, which means her survival rate was just 50 per cent. Classed as having stage-four cancer, Hazel had another seven-hour operation in which two tumours from her lymph nodes were removed.
“I went to see a consultant two weeks later and was told it had been removed, and I was now cancer-free but would have to go through preventative radiotherapy to make sure there were no micro-cells in my tongue or neck,” she said.
What is tongue cancer?
Tongue cancer occurs when cells on your tongue start to grow and divide uncontrollably. This cancer starts at your hyoid bone, which is located where your chin meets your neck, and ends at the floor of your mouth.
According to doctors, when cancer affects the front part of your tongue, it is known as oral tongue cancer. If you develop cancer on the back portion of your tongue, doctors call it oropharyngeal cancer.
Signs and symptoms of tongue cancer
According to experts, it is important to note that the signs of tongue cancer are not always apparent. What cancer looks like and whether you can notice it depends on the location of the tumour and how far the disease has progressed. The most common visual tongue cancer symptoms include: