OMFSAboutFace - Newsletter No. 2. Spring 2002

Well, here we are with Newsletter No. 2, our Support Group up and running and attracting a reasonable amount of publicity for its cause. Guest editor for this issue is a retired newspaperman who himself has undergone surgery for mouth cancer, and now, eight years on, is still enjoying life to the full (see below)

Our Web Site and this Newsletter came about because of a lady named Marlene Gaunt who had part of her tongue replaced with tissue from her left arm. The operation was carried out by surgeon Mr. Leo Cheng, and his team at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. Mrs. Gaunt of Swaffham, Norfolk, who sings soprano, recovered so well that she was able to rejoin The Phoenix Singers for a concert that raised £1500.00 for the Maxillofacial Unit at Addenbrooke's and afterwards helped Mr. Cheng to set up our Support Group to help others facing similar oral and facial trauma.

Now it is to be annual

Mouth Cancer Awareness Week, which ran from November 10th - November 17th 2001 is to be observed annually in order to raise the profile of the disease and make the public realise the importance of regular check-ups with their dentist, and of course, the vital necessity of sufficient dentists to look after us all.
At the Open Clinic at Addenbrooke's, over fifty people turned up, without appointment, for a free check up.
Consultant Surgeon Mr. Cheng has reported that no overt cancers were found, but several other pathologies, such as ulcers and lichen patches, are being treated as a result of the examinations that day.

Early detection can be the key

Last years figures for mouth cancer came in at just over 3,800 which makes it comparable with cervical cancer.
Of this figure, roughly fifty percent will die within the first five years, but, with early detection the prognosis is dramatically improved, with eighty percent living to a grand old age.
We know where we want you to be!

Catching 'em young

During the Awareness Week Mr. Cheng visited Leys Private School in Cambridge. High risk factors such as smoking and drinking were pointed out to over two hundred Sixth form pupils. This was accompanied with a display of slides showing advanced stages of mouth cancer.
Three members of the Support Group also went along to recount their own surgical experiences and one member lightened the atmosphere by reading Pam Ayres "I wish I'd looked after my teeth".

Running for Maxfac.

Paul Wright, husband of Karen who was operated on during February 2001 is to run in the 2002 London Marathon. Paul has named the Maxillofacial Unit at Addenbrooke's as his chosen charity. Sponsor forms will be with us shortly. If you would like to sponsor Paul please contact us at sponsor@omfsaboutface.org.uk

Going Down Under.

We understand from one of our Group that our Web Site details have been given to friends in Australia, so our horizons are extending further than we ever thought possible!

OMFSAboutFace - Newsletter No. 2. Spring 2002

Taste - the relish soon returns

The Group has been contacted by several other patients from the Maxillofacial Unit at Addenbrooke's and we hope that we have been able to give them encouraging support.
One patient was disturbed that her "Taste Buds" had disappeared. We were able to reassure her that in time they would return, and by the end of the year she will be able to enjoy her Chrismas Dinner with much more relish!"

So what about a Flag Day?

"Other cancers and illness have their national flag or emblem days. I wonder if we could do the same for Mouth Cancer" asks Marlene. "The Aids campaign has a red ribbon, why don't we reproduce our Smiley Sunshine face as our emblem? Or a set of voluptuous lips..."

Eight Years on - and still enjoying life

It was just over eight years ago that I went, on the advice of my dentist and doctor, to see Mr. Adrian Flower, the Consultant Oral Surgeon at King's Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital. For years I had been troubled by white patches in my mouth but I had been too busy getting on with my life to take them seriously.
Things came to a head when I could not open my mouth fully, biting into a ham roll was becoming impossible.
Chest and jaw x-rays along with blood tests were followed by a biopsy. Within days of the results of the biopsy I was seeing Graham Westmore of Pilgrim Hospital at Boston, Lincolnshire, who specialises in the particular operation that I needed and often works with Mr. Flower.
Mr. Westmore did not mince words. I had cancer at the back of my mouth and, to be safe, part of the jaw would have to be removed and replaced with some rib and muscle from my chest.
There would be two operations. One to excise the tumour and repair the jaw with a piece of rib and the inside of my mouth with a flap of muscle and skin from my chest. The second, which was minor by comparison, was to remove the excess part of the flap that would allow the blood supply to be maintained whilst the graft was taking. I would be the fortythird person to have this particular jaw operation. "It won't hurt" he said. "No worse than toothache"
To be technical, what I was to undergo was a left hemi-mandibulectomy with excision of intra-oral tumour and pectoralis major myocutaneous flap repair.
Nowadays, people do sometimes spot the scar just below my jawline and ask what I have done. I usually tell them, with a bit of journalistic licence, that I have half of my chest in my mouth and have to go to hospital for a regular haircut because my chest is so hairy!
What I can say with confidence is that the operations did not hurt. True it was a bit uncomfortable at times, and I couldn't speak for a period, for which some people were probably extremely grateful.
Today I eat what I like, walk between five and eight miles a day, play league tennis, pretend to play golf and write for a local newspaper.
So if you are worried about a condition in your mouth, don't put it off like me, but get help NOW. That way you may not need an operation as radical as mine, and if you do, well i'm still here and enjoying life.