10:38am Saturday 15th November 2008
By Barry Nelson
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD boy from the North-East, who had pioneering surgery to beat a rare cancer, is the public face of a national campaign to raise awareness about mouth cancer.
Daniel Sewell, from Crook, County Durham, is now a happy, smiling schoolboy, but only three years ago his life was in the balance after it was discovered he had mouth cancer.
His story is being used by the British Dental Health Foundation to promote Mouth Cancer Action Week next week.
The message of the campaign is to make everyone aware of the need to check regularly for signs of mouth cancer and seek urgent medical attention.
Early detection massively increases the chance of beating mouth cancer.
Back in 2005, Daniel’s father, Richard, spotted Daniel’s badly swollen tongue when he was 13 months old.
Experts say his quick action probably helped to save his son’s life.
The one-year-old underwent radical surgery, which involved splitting his jaw in half to remove most of his tongue, replacing it with tissue from his stomach.
Now, with his “new”
tongue, and three years in remission, Daniel is enjoying life at Crook Primary School.
His mother, Alison, said: “I was just as ignorant as anyone about mouth cancer. I always presumed it was about the older generation and was linked with smoking.
“When we found out that Daniel had cancer we had the shock of our lives,” she said.
“If we hadn’t noticed when we did I really don’t think he would have made it.
“Mouth cancer is a silent killer, after all. Even hospital staff couldn’t believe a child of 13 months could get this disease.”
Everyone needs to be aware that mouth cancer can happen to anyone, she said.
“Now Daniel is doing fantastic.
We were so nervous when he had the operation, and we were told he might never talk properly, so when he said ‘mam’ for the first time I was just so happy. I was dancing around the kitchen.”
Nearly 5,000 people are diagnosed with mouth cancer every year and more than 1,500 die.
The foundation advises everyone to visit the dentist regularly and to look out for mouth ulcers that do not heal within three weeks, red or white patches in the mouth and unusual swellings within the mouth or neck.
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