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I was diagnosed with rare oral cancer ONE WEEK after my health exam came back normal - now I'm warning everyone about what doctors missed
A 36-year-old whose mouth pain and fever were dismissed as 'hypochondria' is warning Americans to keep pressing doctors for answers — after he was eventually diagnosed with deadly mouth cancer.
A week before the disease was spotted, Denver-based Mark attended an annual check-up where he was told he was 'perfectly healthy'.
Routine screening he'd undergone, like urine and blood tests, had come back normal.
Previous appointments with doctors, in which he'd told of his collection of symptoms, had proven unhelpful, with some attributing his symptoms to mental health problems.
It wasn't until he visited a different doctor and demanded further testing that his rare oral cancer was discovered.
'I learned the hard way that your annual doctor's visit and the standard blood work they do is not always a great indicator of your health,' Mark said in a TikTok video that has garnered nearly 900,000 views
He added: 'They can't usually predict or diagnose diseases like cancer. You know yourself better than anyone and any doctor and sometimes even better than the results of a test. This is why it's so important to be persistent.'
Mark had been experiencing a mouth ulcer that would not go away, prompting him to ask for a biopsy of the sore
When testing revealed Mark had tongue cancer, he underwent a procedure to remove part of his tongue and 41 lymph nodes in his neck
Mark had been experiencing symptoms mostly gastrointestinal-related mixed with lightheadedness, tightness in his chest and brain fog for several years, he said.
The problems led him to be 'in and out' of doctors' offices, emergency rooms and numerous specialists' clinics, undergoing tests that gave normal results.
He was told he was too young to be worried about his health and was referred to a therapist for mental health support.
However, early this year, when new symptoms like a fever, night sweats and a mouth ulcer appeared, he decided to return to contact a different doctor and push for a biopsy of the ulcer, which was booked for the week after his annual checkup.
The test confirmed he had tongue cancer, a disease that mostly affects people over 60 with a history of heavy drinking and smoking, which Mark has never done.
Human papillomavirus, or HPV, a common sexually transmitted virus, is also a major risk factor.
Mark had been give a clean bill of health at his annual physical but a biopsy of his tongue ulcer just a week later revealed he had stage 1 tongue caner
After his surgery, he remained in the hospital for three days and had to get nutrition through a feeding tube fed up his nose and into his stomach
Mark's diagnosis was stage 1 oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This is the most common form of oral and tongue cancer, affecting the cells that line the surface along the side of the tongue.
Symptoms of tongue cancer include weight loss, ear pain, red or white patches in the mouth, a persistent sore throat, numbness of the tongue and swelling of the jaw.
The disease can be treated with chemotherapy, radiation, surgery to remove all or part of the tongue and surgery to remove lymph nodes in the neck.
Tongue cancer is rare, accounting for about one percent of new cancer cases in the US. The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 19,300 new cases of the disease and 3,300 deaths in 2024, accounting for 0.5 percent of all cancer deaths.
Overall, rates of and deaths from tongue cancer have been slightly on the rise since 1992, meanwhile rates of all early-onset cancers, diagnoses before 50 years old, have been surging.
Some attribute the rise to more HPV cases, which have been increasing recently, especially in men.
About 70 percent of patients diagnosed with the disease are still alive five years later, on average.
Mark said: 'As you can imagine, I'm pretty frustrated, both with the healthcare system and with myself. I'm not here to bash [doctors]... my only interest right now is to remind people that nobody's perfect - not even the most highly skilled and experienced doctors.'
Mark said he was repeatedly called a hypochondriac, told his symptoms were made up or were a result of poor mental health.
There may have been early signs of Mark's cancer as far back as 2020.
He developed an ulcer on his tongue in the same spot the cancerous one eventually developed that would not heal. However, when doctors removed and tested the lesion, it showed no signs of cancer.
But persistent pain in the months following the procedure prompted him to visit a doctor twice. On both occasions, physicians assured him there was no cause for concern.
And then, in February of this year, the ulcer — which is now known to be cancer — came back.
While the tumor was still in early stages, it had severely invaded his tongue, leading surgeons to recommend a procedure to remove part of the tongue.
In February, Mark underwent the operation to have roughly one-quarter of his tongue removed.
Doctors also did a partial neck dissection, which involved removing 41 lymph nodes in the neck to ensure all of the cancer was removed from his body.
After the surgery, he remained in the hospital for three days, where he was hooked up to a feeding tube.
Following the procedure, he suffered difficulties speaking and swallowing, but began working with a speech and language pathologist. After just a few weeks, he was almost totally recovered.
More comprehensive testing after his surgery showed there was no cancer in his lymph nodes and clear margins were taken on his tongue to remove all of the cancer in the area.
Doctors then decided he would need no further treatment like chemotherapy or radiation. However, Mark had his doubts.
He said: 'I feel incredibly lucky and grateful' but because of the history of being dismissed for so long and being told the symptoms were mental, 'I think I have a bit of trauma and mistrust from all of that.'
So Mark reached out to other doctors to get another opinion, but has not posted an update.
His overall message to patients everywhere: 'Please make sure if you ever have symptoms [like mine]... listen to your body.'