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Journalism of Courage
It took three years for doctors to detect Cameron Newsom’s cancer of the tongue. The mom of one from Colorado, US had no clue that a white spot on her tongue will turn out to be stage four cancer.
Newson’s cancer was not diagnosed in two biopsies and with time her tongue became extremely sensitive to a point where she was unable to speak or eat. Since no cancer was detected, her doctor prescribed Newsom antibiotics thinking that it might be an infection.
However, antibiotics did not help and Newsom started losing weight. In 2013, an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor), diagnosed her with stage four squamous cell carcinoma or skin cancer of the tongue. The diagnosis scared Newsom and her family, but she was determined to fight it.
After successful chemotherapy, the next step in her treatment was removing the tumour from her tongue. Surgeons from the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, performed a complex surgery on Newsom. During the nine-hour surgery, they removed the left side of her tongue and replaced it with muscle tissue from her thigh.
After the surgery, Newsom underwent radiation therapy and three more rounds of chemotherapy. She took a long time to fully recover and get used to her newly constructed tongue as she slowly taught herself how to speak and eat again.
“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 was quoted as saying by UK-based video licensing agency Newsflare.
At 42, Newsom has fully recovered and she now mentors others who go through the same treatment process she received.
