Northallerton woman had half tongue removed after cancer diagnosis

A drama school graduate had half of her tongue removed after what she thought was an ulcer turned out to be cancer.

Harriet Trewhitt, 21, from Northallerton, was diagnosed with tongue cancer in May and now has a semi-colon tattoo, once on her forearm, inside her mouth as part of her newly constructed tongue - after surgeons removed half it of.

In December 2024, Harriet, an acting graduate from LMA Drama School in London, developed an ulcer on her tongue.

When it didn’t heal and became increasingly painful, she visited her GP, who told her to see a dentist to have it examined.

Harriet, who has epilepsy, said: “It was February and it had got really painful. To my surprise, the dentist sent me to A&E, where I was then triaged to the cancer centre.

“I couldn’t really believe what was happening. Things suddenly looked much more serious, and I could feel a sense of urgency in all the medical staff I met. Despite this, I was first diagnosed with a slow-healing ulcer thought to be caused by an injury from me biting my tongue during an epileptic seizure. I was given a spray to help with the pain and told to see how things went.”

Harriet Trewhitt, 21, from Northallerton 'ringing the bell' (Image: PROVIDED)

Unfortunately, things didn’t improve and on her third visit to the hospital the doctors decided they would take a biopsy of Harriet’s tongue. The results showed she had stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue, a type of cancer that develops in the flat, skin-like cells in the mouth.

Doctors advised Harriet she needed to start treatment as soon as possible.

She said: “I was just 10 days away from finishing university, so I pleaded with them to wait before I had to start treatment. I completed my last day of university on the Thursday and I went in for surgery to remove the cancer on the following Tuesday, May 27.”

Harriet had a six-hour operation at University College London Hospital where surgeons removed half her tongue and reconstructed it using skin and blood vessels from her left arm. The tattoo that had been on her forearm was relocated to her mouth during the procedure.

Sadly, after just two days surgeons knew the reconstruction surgery hadn’t been successful, so Harriet had to go back in for emergency surgery to try repair the blood vessels, as well as some lymph nodes near her collarbone that had been damaged.

Harriet said: “I couldn’t believe what was happening to me. It felt like one minute I’ve got an ulcer, the next I was having half my tongue removed. It was so much to take in, and because of the reconstruction I had to re-learn how to talk and swallow.”

The semi-colon tattoo that was once on her forearm has now been used to rebuild her tongue and can be seen inside her mouth (Image: PROVIDED)

While she was recovering, Harriet had to have a feeding tube fitted into nose so that she could eat and get fluids as she was unable to swallow or chew food.

She said: “I was in hospital for two weeks and during this time I tried my best to start talking and swallowing. I like to chatter, so it was really frustrating, but I was determined to talk and eat on my own again. I’d have to type out on my phone what I wanted to say if I got stuck.”

The surgery removed all the cancerous tissue but, as it was more aggressive than previously thought, Harriet needed to complete a course of proton beam therapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester.

Harriet after having emergency surgery (Image: PROVIDED)

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy, prescribed in specific cases, that uses protons instead of x-rays, which can be directed to stop precisely inside the tumour and produce a burst of energy. This destroys the cancer and spares nearby healthy cells, which can help reduce side effects in some cases.

Cancer Research UK funded the world’s first hospital-based proton beam therapy machine in 1989, which is still in use today, and also supported some of the world’s first clinical trials of the treatment.
Harriet said: “I moved to Manchester temporarily and had treatment five days a week from July 7 until August 15. There were painful side effects and a lot of sickness, so I was on various medications.

“I was really fortunate to have been provided with an apartment to live in during my treatment, so it was one less thing to worry about, but I realised early on that I wasn’t coping well with the distance away from home and was allowed to bring my licensed support dog, Flo, to be with me. This made such a difference and it meant I was going outside to walk between appointments, otherwise I would have stayed isolated inside.

“Family and friends also helped during my treatment by taking it in turns to come and stay with me. I feel very lucky that there were treatment options available to me like proton beam therapy.”

Harriet having proton beam therapy (Image: PROVIDED)

Harriet hopes her story will raise awareness of the breakthroughs in research, and credits Cancer Research UK with helping to give her a future and her voice back after its researchers helped develop the precision radiotherapy she benefited from.

Now back home in Northallerton, Harriet is continuing her recovery and hopes to resume her plans to start a Masters degree in Drama Therapy in 2026.

She said: “The hardest part for me has been adjusting to the impact it has had on my acting. I now have a bit of a lisp and swelling in my face and head, which has really knocked my self-esteem.
“I was meant to start my Masters in September, but I had to defer while I completed treatment and healing, which has been extremely frustrating as it feels like my life has been put on hold.”

 Despite ongoing challenges, she recently returned to the stage in Northallerton’s Musical Theatre Companies most recent production of “Anything Goes” and is now keen to do what she can to support more research into the disease.

Harriet's scar on her neck after she was able to leave the hospital (Image: CANCER RESEARCH UK)

With an ageing population, and cancer cases on the rise, Harriet’s urging people to donate monthly to Cancer Research UK to help fund more big research breakthroughs.

By 2040, it’s projected one person in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer every two minutes.

Harriet said: “The statistics say it all. To save lives, Cancer Research UK needs our support now. I understand this more than most, as decades of research helped develop the treatment I received. Advances like this wouldn’t be possible without vital funds.

“It’s hard to have had such a tough hurdle this early in my life. I would never want someone to go through what I have, but I’m grateful to have got the treatment I needed thanks to the work of Cancer Research UK.”

Donate to research at cruk.org/breakthroughs