‘My leg helped rebuild my tongue after mouth cancer diagnosis’

A woman whose tongue had to be reconstructed with a piece of her leg because of mouth cancer is urging people to check for the warning signs.

Candi Hulley, 52, from Bude, Cornwall, said a chance check-up at her dentist had led to her diagnosis.

The Mouth Cancer Foundation charity said more than 3,000 people died of mouth cancer last year nationally – a 20% rise over the past five years.

It said it wanted the public to know it was not just dentists who could check for mouth cancer and “if you’re unsure, go and see your doctor, or a pharmacist”.

“My children call this my shark bite,” Ms Hulley said as she displayed the back of her calf where surgeons removed veins and an artery to reconstruct nearly half of her tongue.

It took a team more than 12 hours to remove the tumour from her mouth to ensure she would be able to eat, speak and swallow again.

She said: “The plastic surgeon described it as like magic… I’ve had a few operations but that was pretty much the scariest thing I’ve ever been through.”

Now she said she was urging people to check themselves for the warning signs.

She said: “I was lucky, it would have spread if it hadn’t been monitored”.

Ms Hulley said the recovery had been almost as intensive as the surgery, with a month spent in hospital and another six months before she could return to work.

She said: “I had speech therapists and nutritionists because I was on a feeding tube for so long – I lost loads of weight.

“Then you have to try and eat. That’s scary, you can choke.”

The Mouth Cancer Foundation said it believed awareness around the disease was low.

“We have figures that suggest only about 17% of the UK population is aware of mouth cancer,” said dental hygienist Alison Brown from the charity.

“And it [treatment and recovery] can be particularly unpleasant – it can involve dissection of the tongue, people lose teeth, they have to learn to speak and eat again.”

Dental students in the south-west of England are among those being taught to check for the signs of mouth cancer.

Fourth-year student Isabelle Adams, who is studying at the Peninsula Dental School in Truro, said such teaching was “so important”.

She said: “When we’re practising dentists, we’re able to spot cancers early, and educate our patients so that they know when to spot when something’s not normal.”

According to the NHS, symptoms of mouth cancer can affect any parts of your mouth, including the gums, tongue, inside the cheeks or lips.

Symptoms can include:

• A mouth ulcer in the mouth that lasts more than three weeks
• A red or white patch inside the mouth
• A lump inside the mouth or on the lip
• Pain inside the mouth
• Difficulty swallowing
• Difficulty speaking or a hoarse (croaky) voice
• A lump in the neck or throat
• Losing weight without trying