Steve Overend initially wondered if the stiffness in his jaw was a dental problem. At a family barbecue he noticed that he could not open his mouth wide enough to eat a bread roll.
“It wasn’t painful, but it was very strange – it felt like my jaw had stopped working,” Steve recalls, 66, a retired quality engineer. “I could not physically put parts of food in my mouth.”
It did not improve over time. “I stopped eating crispy bread, meat or something that needed a lot of chewing,” he says. “I lived from soft foods such as mashed potatoes, yogurt, jelly and canned soups.”
Four months later and still suffering from the problem, he also noticed a soft, painless lump in the back of his mouth.
He called his dentist, who put him a tooth abscess by telephone.
But antibiotics did not succeed in erasing, so Steve went to his doctor – who prescribed more antibiotics that again had no effect. So Steve was referred for blood tests, scans and a biopsy of the swollen lump on his right Tonsil.
“My consultant called me and told me that I had Tonsil cancer,” says Steve, who lives together with his wife Alison, 64, in Runcorn, Cheshire.
‘I was told that I needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy – but all the medical words that have been washed over me. I didn’t want to know how serious my cancer was. I just wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. ‘
Steve Overend initially wondered if the stiffness in his jaw was a dental problem, but later he discovered that Tonsil had had Cancer
Because Steve is a non-smoker and only an informal drinker, says Dr. Caroline Brammer that his cancer was probably caused by HPV
Steve later discovered that if the treatment had not started when it did, he would have been dead within six months because he had an advanced, fast -growing tumor.
Cases of Tonsil Cancer, just like with other main and neck cancer, have risen considerably since 2013, according to disturbing new research from the University of Sheffield and the Ministry of Health and Social Care.
“In the past decade there has been an increase of 23 percent in the number of cases, with an increase in 33 percent incidence since the early 1990s,” says Zoe Marshman, a professor in dental public health, and the main author of the report.
The disease also claims many lives – according to Cancer Research UK, around 4,100 deaths every year due to head and neck cancer.
That despite a reduction of 12 percent in national smoking, which, together with high alcohol consumption, is a special risk factor for tonsil cancer (the impact of Vapen is unknown).
In fact, the most common cause for tonsil cancer infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), which can infect the skin and moist inner coverings in the body, such as the mouth.
Although the virus does not cause any symptoms in many people, it is linked to cancer – in particular cancer of the cervix.
“It is not known how many of our HPV have, but we are probably all exposed to it at some point in our lives,” says Dr. Caroline Brammer, a consultant in clinical oncology in the Clatterbridge Cancer Center in Liverpool.
“The difference between those of us who develop Tonsil cancer – the most common type of head and neck cancer that we see in the clinic – and those who don’t do that is still a subject of research.”
Because Steve is a non-smoker and only an informal drinker, says Dr. Brammer that his cancer was probably caused by HPV.
And that can be an increasing problem. Since 2008, teenage girls have been offered a vaccination from HPV to reduce the number of cervical cancer cases – and since 2019 also teenage boys.
Between 2019 and 2023 vaccine recording in girls, however, from 88 percent to 71 percent fell, possibly as a result of a slow recovery of services since the pandemic, as well as the hesitation of vaccine and primary school visits, says Professor Marshman.
Experts would like to increase consciousness of the symptoms of head and neck cancer, such as Tonsil tumors, because “despite the increasing number of oral cancers, the consciousness in the general public remains low,” says Professor Marshman.
‘Symptoms can influence each part of the mouth, including tongue, lips, cheeks, gums and the palate. These can include a non-healing ulcer, which lasts more than three weeks, or a lump in the mouth or on the lips. ‘
Main and neck cancer usually start in the squamous cells that cover the inside of the mouth and throat and in one of two types of HPV positive and HPV negative
And having your almonds removed is no protection – because tumors can form somewhere else in the mouth.
Symptoms can also be red or white spots in the mouth; Swallow and speak difficulties; Or a change in the voice, such as hoarseness.
In the case of Steve, while the cancer on his almonds had started, it had spread behind his nose and struck the area around his voting box and had damaged the muscles – who declared his struggle to open his mouth.
“Early detection and diagnosis are crucial because it significantly improves the patient’s survival,” says Professor Marshman, who points out that “the current challenges that have access to a NHS darts in certain parts of the country takes care of it.” Main and neck cancer usually start in the squamous cells that climb the inside of the mouth and throat and in one of two types of fall-HPV positive and HPV negative.
The latter means that there is no sign of the virus and is more common with those who smoke and drink alcohol.
Fortunately, ‘Tumors are driven by HPV are very sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy’, even when they are advanced, Dr. Brammer.
“This was not the case with the majority of main and neck cancer 30 or 40 years ago, which were more often caused by smoking, heavy drinking or both,” she adds – although those cancers were more resistant to the treatment.
As a result, taste it is now looking at the possibility of using softer forms of chemotherapy and radiotherapy for people with HPV-positive cancers to achieve the same results with less collateral damage on the surrounding tissues.
In the case of Steve, by the time of his diagnosis in November 2020 – just a few months after his first symptoms in June of that year – the tumor had wrapped its carotid artery (one of the most important blood vessels to the brain), so surgery was not possible. His only option was radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Before he started the treatment, Steve had fit a food tube in his stomach, because the treatment could cause swallowing problems or normally make eating painful or difficult. He eventually used it for two years.
Three days after Christmas Day in 2020, Steve had the first of three chemotherapy sessions. He also had 35 sessions of radiotherapy, in which both therapies ended in February 2021.
“Fortunately I didn’t have much to lose her, but the mustaches on the right side of my neck where radiotherapy was directed have never grown back,” says Steve.
After his treatment was over, speech and language therapists had to train him to swallow again, so that the food tube could be removed.
Because the cancer and treatment had destroyed some mouth-opened muscles, he also had to do exercises including the use of a handheld rehabilitation device to stretch its jaw so that it could open further.
Three months after the end of his treatment, a PET scan (a high-tech image of tissue in the body) found no signs of cancer and Steve finally started to feel ‘himself’ again.
A negative pet after three months suggests an 85 percent chance of being cancer -free in five years, according to studies. Steve still has annual check-ups, but needs no further scans unless the symptoms return.
“I can now just open my mouth, about one centimeter, so unfortunately I will never be able to eat a bacon again,” he says.
The treatment damaged his ability to produce saliva, so ‘everything must be liquidated before I drink it from a mug’.
He has to make soup versions of all his meals and, when he does not ride his motorcycle or walks with his dog, he is busy sharing his liquid recipes on his YouTube channel.
“I am used to eating that way,” says Steve. ‘I like to find new recipes and then share them to help other people like me.
“Food is a struggle, but I still live, so I’m happy.”
Do I really need?
This week: Electric Scalp Massager, £ 16.99, Amazon.co.uk
Claim: A portable device, with it looks like a hairbrush with silicone hairs. Switch it on to activate one of the two speed modes; The teeth vibrate softly, the maker says they will stimulate blood flow to the head. . . To promote hair growth. “
Expert judgment: “Massaging the scalp with a device like this will increase blood flow by stimulating the blood vessels of the skin on the scalp,” says Dr. Sophie Momen, a consultant dermatologist at the Cadogan Clinic in London. ‘As a result, it can help with problems with dry skin there – but it is not going to do anything for hair loss.
‘That is because the massage of this will not increase blood supply to the ships that support the hair follicle, that is where the root of the hair is.
“Using it at the best, this can feel your head strengthened, but there is no knowledge that it will help with hair loss.”
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