An American woman lost her tongue to cancer but has a new one made from skin from her tattooed arm.
- Jennifer Alexander lost her tongue to cancer.
- His tongue was reconstructed using skin from his arm which had a tattoo.
- After the operation, she could not speak or eat for 3 months.
“I know I don’t look like the type of person who has a mouth tattoo, but I like to use it to raise awareness for tongue cancer.”confides Jennifer Alexander in the columns of New York Post from August 19, 2024.
The 52-year-old tax accountant lost her tongue to cancer in 2020. She didn’t have it reconstructed with just any piece of skin from her arm. She asked her doctors to take the sample from her tattoo, a blue star.
“I chose to have half of my tongue cut out and reconstructed”
Jennifer Alexander was 37 when she was first diagnosed with stage 1 tongue cancer. For years, she had suffered from recurring leukoplakia on her tongue. But in August 2009, the painful white spot caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV) turned into a tumor. Initially ignoring the blueberry-sized lump, she eventually saw her dentist at her aunt’s insistence.
“He took a look and, although he didn’t want me to worry, he said he thought it was cancer.”she recalled in the American newspaper. The biopsy confirmed the health professional’s fears.
The tumor was removed during an operation a few days later. However, the disease then reappeared twice in 2017 and 2019. At the time of the third diagnosis, the American decided to “do things differently”. “I chose to have half my tongue cut out and reconstructed. I was told I would lose a lot of weight afterwards – because I wouldn’t be able to eat”she explains. “It didn’t scare me, I felt like I had to lose some weight anyway”jokes Jennifer.
To reconstruct her tongue, the surgeon indicated that he would take a piece of flesh from her left arm to reconstruct the tongue because she is right-handed. And specifically, it was taken from the area of her tattoo. It can now be seen in her mouth, and this has caused her some problems in the past. For example, a police officer who had stopped her thought she had a lozenge in her mouth. “None of that bothers me,” Jennifer assures. “I was a lot more uncertain when my tongue looked more fucked up.”
Tongue reconstruction: “I spent three months without eating or speaking”
Indeed, the recovery after the reconstruction of his tongue was long. “I spent three months without eating or speaking”she recalls. She went to speech therapy to relearn how to speak and chew. “After my fourth surgery in March 2020, I couldn’t even say my own name until 2022”.
During these long months, she could also only consume protein drinks in terms of meals. Which led her to lose more than 30 kilos. “Now I can handle smaller foods like carrots and olives.” Another consequence of the operation is that she lost 60% of her taste buds, and therefore her sense of taste. “Sometimes with foods like ice cream, I have to wait for my brain to send the ‘cold’ signal before I can register what it is.”
Today, she works to raise awareness of tongue cancer among people under 40. She calls for vigilance for signs such as the appearance of white spots on the tongue or unexplained weight loss.Watch for mouth bleeding and jaw pain. If you have HPV, get an annual exam.”
I lost my tongue to cancer —I had a new one made from my arm with a tattoo https://t.co/QJ46gqErnU pic.twitter.com/OL8TwvDLmz
— New York Post (@nypost) August 19, 2024