Hi! My name is Angela, and I'm a cancer survivor. Back in December of 2018, when I was first diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the dorsal tongue, I thought that this couldn't be happening to me. I was only 42 years old at the time, and thought "what if this is the end?" I went through my surgery where they did a partial glossectomy and removed a quarter of my tongue. That was when my journey really began! I had to heal from my surgery before anything else could be done. So after I was healed up, I proceeded to go to speech therapy where I had to learn how to talk again. This took a financial toll on my husband and I, driving 3 times a week to therapy. I was also only able to eat blended foods, so I took to blending fruits and juices to sustain myself. As we all know, fruits and fruit juices are some of the most expensive things to buy. I had to though! With what money I had, I made it work and I can only say that it was by the grace of God that I did so. Nine months later, I was again diagnosed with cancer, but this time it was in the lymph nodes f my neck. It had spread and no one know it. Not until I found a mass in my neck and they did a biopsy on the mass. I was told, once again, it's cancer. My husband and I were already broke from the first cancer ordeal, then to top it off, it was our slow time of the year for our business. I ended up having a right neck dissection, where they took out the saliva glad and 16 other lymph nodes as well. My heart was broken at this point. It's not that a deformity really bothers me, but it has taken its toll on me. Just in the past few weeks, I finally had a pet scan done, but they still cannot rule out a recurrence of a cancer tumor in my neck. So, time goes by and I do the best I can, but the thought is always with me!