A medical student had two-thirds of her tongue removed and recreated with tissue from her bone after her stubborn canker sores were found to be cancerous.
Rachel Morton, who lives in Edinburgh, first noticed sores on her tongue in August 2019, around her 18th birthday.
The now 21-year-old claims the sores continued for a year until one side of her tongue became deformed from being completely in it.
After a year of “fighting” to see a doctor, the medical student left general practice in November 2020.
Doctors referred a biopsy in her new surgery, which led to her being diagnosed with tongue cancer on December 18, 2020 at the age of 19.
After the invasive procedure to reconstruct her tongue, as well as two rounds of chemotherapy and 30 radiation treatments, Miss Morton was declared cancer-free in June 2021.
Two years after completing treatment, the aspiring psychiatrist is now working to raise awareness of tongue cancer symptoms and the importance of advocating for your health.
Rachel Morton (pictured above), who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, said she started getting sores on her tongue in 2019, which she initially attributed to studying but got herself checked out
After life-saving surgery, Miss Morton had to learn to walk and talk again, and remarkably she didn’t take a break from her studies when she returned to online lectures just four days later. The 15-year-old dancer then had two rounds of chemotherapy, 30 rounds of radiation therapy and speech therapy over six months before he was finally given the all-clear in June 2021.
Miss Morton was plagued by ulcers her freshman year, so she went to see a dentist and had several phone consultations with a doctor – both of whom prescribed her antibiotics. She is also prescribed painkillers and medication as Bonjela.
She said: “I’ve been through a lot of different things [medical] People aren’t really being cared for, and at one point a doctor actually said, ‘There’s really nothing else we can do.’
But by the time her sophomore year began, the sores had become extremely painful, and her tongue was so deformed that she couldn’t stick it out or drink alcohol.
Despite this, Miss Morton, who is from South Lanarkshire, claims she was not “too worried” as she was prone to ulcers.
She also had red, sore lips, was extremely tired and developed a rash around her mouth which she attributed to exam stress.
However, she then got ear infections, sinusitis and tonsillitis.
“Everything on the left side of my face and neck feels off,” Miss Morton said.
Her family doctor checked whether she might have various health problems, such as hemochromatosis – an inherited condition in which iron levels in the body slowly build up over many years.
But it wasn’t until she made an appointment with a new GP in November 2020 that she was referred for a biopsy.
Miss Morton said: “The biopsy was probably one of the worst experiences of the whole thing – it was absolutely horrific.
“You’re lying there, of course they’re stunning you, but it’s the sound of the scissors cutting your tongue because it’s such a strong muscle, it really took a lot of strength.”
She was told she would give feedback in a few weeks.
But the hospital sent her an urgent message a few days later, telling her to come.
It was then that she suffered the devastating blow of tongue cancer – a form of head and neck cancer.
When Miss Morton’s wounds first appeared, she had several telephone consultations with the doctor and also went to the dentist, both of whom prescribed her antibiotics. By the time she moved to Edinburgh to start her second year at university, they had become so painful that her tongue was so deformed that she could not stick it out or drink alcohol.
But the student said she fully embraces her scars as they show how strong, resilient and powerful her body is for fighting and defeating such an aggressive cancer.
Miss Morton, who is interested in a career as a psychiatrist, has several scars, including a “Harry Potter-esque” one on her chin, one from a tracheotomy, neck, stomach and leg
Although the exact number of tongue cancer patients is unclear, around 12,000 people in the UK and 51,000 in the US are diagnosed with head and neck cancer each year.
Symptoms include red or white patches on the tongue, sore throat and sores that won’t go away. Pain when swallowing, numbness in the mouth and pain or burning in the tongue are also signs.
Miss Morton said: ‘We went into the surgeon’s room and he had a box of tissues in there. There were all these little clues that made me think, “Oh okay, I know what’s going on now.”
“He has actually never spoken to someone my young age with tongue cancer. He said he only treated people over 60, mostly men who smoked and drank throughout their lives.
Her mother recalled that the surgeon developed a rash because he was so uncomfortable breaking the news.
Exactly one month after the diagnosis, on January 18, Miss Morton underwent surgery.
Miss Morton underwent ten separate operations in one 16-hour session to break her jaw and remove two-thirds of her tongue and lymph nodes.
Surgeons used some of the muscles and blood vessels from her leg to reconstruct her tongue and the arteries and veins in her neck.
They first tried to remove it from her calf, but then it was no longer possible, they used her thigh, so most of her entire left leg was operated on.
Miss Morton had a tracheotomy – an opening made in the front of the neck to allow a tube to be inserted into the windpipe – for about four days afterwards.
She also had a feeding tube inserted into her stomach for about nine months.
On March 1, 2021, she began her first of two rounds of chemotherapy.
Miss Morton then underwent 30 radiation treatments, which she had five days a week for six weeks, and speech therapy for about six months.
She got everything safely in June 2021.
Remarkably, despite her diagnosis and treatment, Miss Morton took no time off from her studies and returned to online classes four days later.
The surgery left several scars, including a “Harry Potter-esque” one on her chin.
But Miss Morton is proud of her and adds: “I don’t use a lot of make-up anymore because I don’t want to cover up my scars and blemishes. [don’t want to] feel like i have to [cover them]because it is so.
“I’m proud of my body that I was able to get through this. My scars are part of me and will be for the rest of my life and it shows how resilient, strong and powerful my body is and I want to reflect that in myself and be true to myself.”
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
