Seb's Marathon for Cancer Treatment

In early March 2024 my mother was diagnosed with tongue cancer. 

After 4 horrible months of an invasive operation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and some recovery, she is now on the way to getting back to normal. 

The only reason she found out that she had tongue cancer was that she was lucky. She went to the dentist with a sore spot on her tongue, and her dentist (thank god) referred her to get checked. Already the cancer had spread to some of her lymph nodes in her neck, meaning that no more time could be wasted before starting treatment. 

Around 450,000 individuals are newly diagnosed with oral cancers every year. Historically the death rate associated with this cancer is particularly high not because it is hard to discover or diagnose, but due to the cancer being routinely discovered late in its development. Today , that statement is still true, as there are no comprehensive programs to screen for the disease opportunistically, and without that, late-stage discovery is more common.

As with my mom it is often only discovered when it has spread to another location (most likely the lymphs) - for obvious reasons this leads to a much worse prognosis. It significantly increases the risk for the cancer coming back after the primary tumor is removed as well. 

The Oral Cancer Foundation is here to spread awareness and information about causes of oral cancer. They promote frequent check-ups to find it early. Finally, they fund research campaigns into relevant treatments and discovery methods.