- Cameron Newson (42), was diagnosed with advanced tongue carcinoma in 2013. This diagnosis came after years of odd spots.
- To treat the cancer, she received chemotherapy, radiation and partial tongue removal.
- The other half of her tongue was removed and replaced by thigh tissue. This tissue can’t taste or feel. “tingly and numb.”
A 42-year-old Colorado mom is opening up — literally — about life with half a real tongue.
Cameron Newsom, who Camiflauge goes on TikTokTo beat a rare form of cancer in 2013, a part of her tongue was removed.
It has been replaced by tissue from her thigh. This helps her to talk and keeps her from choking. However, it still has some drawbacks such as slowing down her eating and inhibiting her creativity. “a really good kiss,”She also slurred her words. TikTok.
Newsom is thankful to have survived nine years of cancer. “The longer you go without regressing, the less likely it is the cancer will come back, so were all feeling really positive,”She Central Recorder.
Newsom was diagnosed after three years.
Newsom first noticed a white, painless spot on her tongue. A biopsy revealed that it was not cancerous. Another spot was found a year later. However, more extensive testing failed to find any concern.
Newsom saw a dentist when her tongue became so sensitive that it was painful that she couldn’t eat, drink, or speak.
Antibiotics
. The pain got worse and a pinkish-colored tumor was formed.
Finally, after a third biopsy, a specialist in ear and nose diagnosis gave her the following: Stage four squamous cell carcinomaIn May 2013, the most severe stage of cancer, was identified as.
“When I was told, it seemed like I was being handed a death sentence there and then, but straight away my reaction was: I’m ready to fight this,”She told Central Recorder. When she Googled her condition, “There were images of people after having their jaws removed or sawed in half — I’d never been so scared.”
Newsom had to have chemo, radiation and tongue surgery.
Newsom went through three rounds of chemotherapy. They were unsuccessful but not painful, she stated. “There would be times at the dinner table where I would just burst into tears because I couldn’t eat a thing,”She told Central Recorder.
She couldn’t speak to her husband, then aged five years, and eventually lost the ability to even talk to her son.
After the therapy shrunk her tumor enough, Newson flew to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for a nine-and-a-half-hour surgery to remove the left side of her tongue and replace it with thigh tissue.
Newsom could not swallow or breathe by herself, and recovery was difficult. The hospital staff had to constantly monitor Newsom, and they often had to flush out any fluids that were accumulating in her throat. “That was basically like being waterboarded by the nurses once or twice a day, which was absolutely horrific,”She said.
“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 continued.
Newsom was still not done with her treatment nine weeks later. To kill any remaining cancer cells, Newsom received 45 rounds of radiation. She also received three additional rounds of chemotherapy. For six months, she was fed through a tube.
Newsom learned to speak, eat, drink and retrain her tongue eventually.
Newsom can only eat and taste on her right side.
She described how the thigh-half of her tongue feels. “having a dead arm or dead leg all the time — it is constantly tingly and numb.”
However, she is thankful to be alive and was able her to return to her job as an instructor of gymnastics less than a year after being diagnosed. “2013 was the toughest year of my life,”She stated, “and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my amazing [husband] and the rest of my family.”
Newsom is not the only one with a tongue made of thigh tissue
Annabel Lovick was 48 years old and diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2020. Doctors removed one third of her tongue and replaced it by thigh tissue in a 10-hour operation. Although she could not fully stick out her tongue, kiss her lips, eat, swallow or kiss her lips a year later, her condition was improving. The Daily Mail reported.
Doctors discovered that Cynthia Zamora had a tumor on more than half her tongue in 2017. She had to have that portion of her tongue removed and then replaced with skin and fat taken from her thighs as part of her treatment. She had to learn to speak, eat and drink again.
“I’m doing great. There is life after this surgery,”She told UC San Diego HealthShe was taken to the hospital. “Don’t give up. Keep going. Be strong. Be stubborn. You can do it, you can.”