A former teacher has told of the bizarre sign that he was suffering tongue cancer — a disease that’s around 25 per cent more prevelant than it was a decade a go.
Stuart Kingston, 67, from Merseyside, wasn’t aware that his face ‘appeared uneven’, until it was spotted by his wife, Carol.
Ms Kingston said: ‘During the pandemic, you naturally kept your distance from one another.
‘So it was only later on in the year when we went on a caravan trip and were in close proximity to each other, sat face to face, I saw how uneven Stuart’s face looked.’
Mr Kingston said he’d also had problems swallowing, which was affecting his appetite, but ‘didn’t think anything of it’.
But in October 2020, after noticing the ‘asymmetry’ in his face, Ms Kingston encouraged her husband to visit the GP.
The doctor arranged an urgent PET scan at the local hospital, concerned about a potential growth in his oral cavity.
Images showed a cancerous growth had formed at the base of his tongue.
Stuart Kingston, 67, from Liverpool, had difficulty swallowing but thought nothing of it. It was only when his wife noticed asymmetry in his face that he visited a GP for help.
Oral cancers, which include disease affecting the tongue, lips, jaw and gums, are on the rise in the UK.
An analysis published in November revealed that cases of deadly mouth cancer among Brits have reached a record high of 10,000 a year.
The findings, collected by charity The Oral Health Foundation, showed 10,825 new cases of mouth cancer are being diagnosed in the UK every year — representing a 133 per cent rise over the last 20 years.
Experts say the surge is mostly driven by diagnoses of younger people in their 40s and 50s.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the biggest risk factors for mouth cancer, according to the Oral Health Foundation, and is thought to be responsible for the lionshare of new head and neck cancers.
And experts suggest oral sex could be partly to blame for the rise in types of the virus-driven disease that affect the throat and mouth.
Dr Hisham Mehanna, from the UK’s University of Birmingham, said people with multiple oral sex partners have an up to nine-fold increased risk of oropharyngeal cancers, which affect the back of the tongue, tonsils and the throat.
Mr Kingston has warned others to stay vigilant about symptoms that appear unusual, such as difficulty swallowing and a slumped face.
Soon after his diagnosis, Mr Kingston started five weeks of daily radiotherapy and then chemotherapy at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Wirral, Merseyside.
He also took part in a clinical trial so he could ‘help someone going through the same thing in the future.’
Speaking of his thoughts on the evening before he went to hospital he said: ‘The night before my treatment started, Carol and I went to see the Blackpool Illuminations.
‘We promised each other we’d come back when my treatment was finished.’
After having treatment, Mr Kingston needed to re-learn how to swallow and use his tongue differently.
‘When you’re having treatment every day, you know what to expect, you’re in a routine,’ he said.
‘There’s people around you to help and if you have any worries there’s always someone there to address that.
‘But when I went home and the worries continued, I really started to struggle.
‘This is why I’m eternally grateful for the speech and language therapy team at Clatterbridge. I couldn’t have made the progress I did without them.’
In March 2022 Mr Kingston was given the all-clear — doctors could find no further signs of cancer in his body.
This data shows that in the UK cases of throat cancer have been trending upward, just like in the US (source: Cancer Research UK)
Mouth ulcers that don’t heal, a hoarse voice and unexplained lumps in the mouth are all warning signs of the disease
‘Don’t think you’re invincible like I did. Speak with a professional if you’re experiencing any symptoms and put yourself in the hands of the experts.
‘No matter how independent or tough you think you are, you can’t cure this by yourself.
‘Accept the help of people who are highly skilled and qualified.
‘Have trust and faith in their abilities and go into everything with a positive attitude taking it a day at a time.’
Dr Heulwen Sheldrick, a speech and language therapist at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre helped him to learn how to swallow again.
She said: ‘Stuart had a feeding tube fitted at the start of his treatment and our main focus was to adjust what/how to eat and drink in order to safely remove the tube.
‘It can be quite frightening to do this, relearning how to swallow and use the tongue in a different way.
‘Between the team’s support, Carol’s encouragement and Stuart’s hard work through speech and language therapy, he is now communicating in the clearest and most effective way possible.’
Signs of mouth cancer, including types affecting the tongue, can be varied — including anything from difficulty swallowing to a red or white patch inside the mouth.
Lumps and pain in the mouth as well as ulcers that have lasted more that three weeks can also be telltale signs, according to the NHS.
