Hi Gary.

i read your blog,it is very interesting and I'm sure it has helped others to cope with the same type of cancer.being told you have cancer is devastating,being told you have throat cancer is beyond devastating,as most of us would realise the implications of that,of not being able to eat,or swallow,of the possibilities of being tube or peg fed and so on.at least I did as I knew a few people that this had happened to.including my wonderful uncle who had died from oesophageal cancer.the doctors didn't know where the primary site of my cancer was at first,the cancer they found was a secondary one,in a lymph node in my neck.i remember standing outside the Royal Oldham hospital in July 2012 breaking down,and saying to my parents"they think it's in my throat don't they?"a PET scan the following week in a central Manchester hospital confirmed this.i remember phoning my 33year old son(once we had the full diagnosis)from the hospital to tell him it was throat cancer,in the right hand tonsil.he was quite calm at first and then said"but how the f... can you have throat cancer mum,you've never smoked."of course we had never heard of the HPV virus back then.awareness of this is hopefully getting better,and I have noticed that there are posters up in my dentists about this,I just hope people read them.but then you always think these things won't happen to you.i believe tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma is quite rare,indeed my GP said I was the only patient he had ever had who had it!well I always did like to be different to anyone else!haha.the treatment however I found unbearable at times,and there were many occasions when I wanted to halt it.but I had just been blessed with a beautiful grandson,and this bouncing baby boy gave me the reason I needed to carry on.so to everyone going through this hell all I can say is,stay strong,be positive,focus on the people who love and need you,and pray if that's what you believe in.

kind regards

karen