A 26-year-old man from the UK underwent a tongue removal surgery after erroneously attributing cancer symptoms to an ulcer.
Dan Durant first noticed an ulcer on the right side of his tongue in 2023 but initially dismissed it as insignificant.
The situation escalated when Dan accidentally sneezed, causing him to bite his tongue.
This incident resulted in inflammation of the lump, prompting the Stafford resident to seek medical advice.
Doctors diagnosed Dan with squamous cell carcinoma, a particularly aggressive type of cancer, necessitating surgery to extract the tumor.
Reflecting on what happened, Dan said: “I sneezed really hard and ended up biting my tongue.
“It went really inflamed.
“I was directed to Stoke Hospital and told it was cancer and it was aggressive.”
In an operation, doctors removed half of Dan’s tongue to excise the two tumors before reconstructing it with skin from his left forearm.
Surgeons also conducted a neck dissection to eliminate cancerous lymph nodes. Dan is currently awaiting biopsy results that will dictate whether further treatment is necessary.
Dan shared: “I didn’t quite believe it could be cancer.
“Being told it was upsetting. I did have a cry. It was so surreal.”
Regarding the procedure, he explained: “They took skin from my forearm for my tongue and then the skin from my stomach to replace skin on my arm.
“They also used the arteries from my forearm and put them into my tongue so there was a blood flow.”
Dan spent eight days recovering in the hospital post-operation to ensure there were no complications and to adjust to eating and drinking again.
He is currently on a soft food diet.
“Learning to swallow properly was quite difficult,” Dan said.
“I’m just getting used to chewing.
“My jaw aches a lot. It’s a lot of relearning things.
“If there is little to no cancer cells left I will just be one round of radiotherapy.”
Due to his diagnosis, Dan has been unable to commence a new job and is not presently employed.
A GoFundMe page has been initiated to assist with Dan’s living expenses in the forthcoming months, with any surplus funds earmarked for cancer research donations.
Dan concluded: “Everything is normal and then all of a sudden it is not.
“It’s a life-changing thing.”