We often come across many such stories on the internet that takes unexpected turns. The stories of cancer patient survivors can show their strength to fight that and come back. Thus those stories are surely inspiring. And such an inspiring story is of Cameron Newsom. It took three years for doctors in order to find Cameron Newsom’s tongue cancer. Cameron Newsom is the mom of one. She is from Colorado, US. At first, Cameron spotted a white spot on her tongue. However, she had no clue that this would turn out to be stage four cancer.
Newson’s cancer was not diagnosed in two biopsies. But as the time went by, she felt her tongue become extremely sensitive. It became so sensitive to a point where she was unable to speak or eat properly. Her doctor didn’t find any cancer symptoms. As a result, her doctor prescribed Newsom some antibiotics. Her doctor thought that the white symptoms might be an infection.
But as this was cancer, antibiotics did not seem helpful for her. As a result, Newsom also started losing weight. It was in the year 2013, an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor), diagnosed her cancer. The doctor diagnosed her with stage four squamous cell carcinoma. In simple words, the skin cancer of the tongue. The diagnosis scared Newsom and her family. But indeed Newsom is brave enough as she was also determined to fight it.
The chemotherapy treatment went successful. The next step to take in her treatment was to remove the tumour from her tongue. And the removal of the tumor was surely a complex surgery. As a result, the surgery was then performed by expert surgeons. They were from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. The surgery was a nine-hour long surgery. The surgeons were successfully removed the left side of her tongue, affected by the tumor. They replaced the left side of tongue with muscle tissue from her thigh.
After the surgery went successful, Newsom underwent radiation therapy. In addition to this, she also underwent three more rounds of chemotherapy. It took a long time for her to fully recover. Indeed it was hard for her to get used to her newly constructed tongue. She slowly taught herself how to speak and eat again.
This was not so easy for her. As a part of her tongue got removed, it would be really difficult for her to get used to the new part. And also, this was not the only problem. As the muscle tissue of the thigh was also attached, she was able to feel the rough texture. And also leg hairs!
“The weirdest part of the whole experience was when I felt a rough texture on the thigh part of my tongue – and when I looked in the mirror it had started growing leg hair!” she stated. She said this according to a UK-based video licensing agency Newsflare.
At the age of 42, Newsom has fully recovered now. In addition to this, she now mentors others who have gone through the same treatment process. She help the ones who got the same treatment she received.
