A MUM who had an annoying ulcer that was spreading last Christmas was devastated to be diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer.
Rachel Morsett, 35, was visiting family for the festive season and when she had trouble eating because of a sore in her mouth.
She visited a doctor who suggested it was possibly a symptom of her Crohn's disease – a long-term condition where the gut becomes inflamed.
But shockingly tests revealed she had stage four squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
Since her diagnosis in February, the cancer has spread to lymph nodes in Rachel’s throat and lungs.
Now she is having treatment for masses that grew in her lungs, blocking her airway.
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Rachel recently needed an operation to put a stent in to support her breathing.
She is also undergoing emergency radiotherapy to shrink the new tumours in her lungs, as well as two types of chemotherapy and immunotherapy to fight the disease.
Rachel said: "If this treatment doesn’t work I don’t know what’s next. Possibly a clinic trial could help me but I won't stop fighting.
"I want to see my babies grow up and meet my grandchildren.
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"I will fight with every fibre of my being to stay here for them and my husband."
Mum-of-three Rachel is married to her childhood sweetheart Shawn, 35.
They live in Kansas, US, with their three children – Audrey, nine, Vanessa, seven, and one-year-old Heath.
The stay-at-home mum was horrified by her diagnosis as she has no history of smoking or tobacco use of any kind.
She said: "In just six weeks the sore had gone from a tiny canker sore to half of my tongue.
"I was so uncomfortable at Christmas time and into January I kept going back to the doctor and urgent care.
"I was booked to see a surgeon for a consultation on February 8 but I couldn’t wait that long so I begged an ear, nose and throat office to look at it. They did, and sent off a sample for biopsy.
"We got the results via video call on January 20 and it was squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.
"It felt like the movies, like it wasn’t real. I heard 'cancer' and don't remember much of the conversation after that.
"I have had a very blessed, easy life and this challenge was harder than anything I’ve ever considered would happen to me.
"I didn’t even know tongue cancer was a thing before my diagnosis."
I will fight with every fibre of my being to stay here for my babies and my husband.
On February 2, Rachel had a glossectomy to remove half of her tongue.
Surgeons used muscle from her wrist to rebuild her tongue and, while she recovered, Rachel was fitted with a tracheostomy to help her breathe and a feeding tube to eat.
She said: "It was six weeks of tough recovery. I was heartbroken to be away from my children and to not be able to communicate with them.
"After surgery, I had the most intense radiation treatment, involving 33 rounds of radiation to my head and neck.
"During the first week, I had a lymph node in my neck bothering me.
"My doctor ordered CT scans and I had a cancer recurrence, only six weeks after surgery.
"That’s when they added chemo to be done at the same time."
During her gruelling treatment, Rachel developed pneumonia and had to be hospitalised. Doctors then found a nodule in her lung.
"They thought it may be nothing and said they would just watch it as it was very small," she said.
"But scans done over a month or two saw growth so it was biopsied which confirmed squamous cell carcinoma – metastasis from the original cancer."
Rachel had five further rounds of radiation, but follow-up scan results were "not good".
She had more metastasis – two more lymph nodes outside the lung.
'PRECIOUS MOMENTS'
Rachel, who shares updates on TikTok @rmorsett, said her family and friends have been nothing but supportive while she rests and recovers, including dropping dinners off, cleaning the house, helping with her kids and setting up a GoFundMe to assist financially.
"I have been so blessed," she added.
Rachel's chemotherapy is currently on pause while she undergoes surgery and nine rounds of radiation because a new mass in her right lung is almost blocking her airway.
But she's staying as positive as she can do under the circumstances.
"My cancer is incurable and I am having a tough time at the moment, but with an effective treatment there is a possibility of no evidence of disease or at least halting growth indefinitely," she said.
"At a recent appointment I made the mistake of asking how long I have, to which the doctor replied that the average patient survives 15 months when treatment works.
"But he said he has had patients on the treatment for five to 10 years – every patient is different.
"Around 10 years wouldn't even put Heath in middle school, and I am determined to see my kids grow up.
"This news hit me very very hard and I'm having a hard time processing, but we're looking at our life very closely to make changes, seek treatments, and spend time exactly how we want.
"Since my diagnosis I find precious moments in everything – taking a few minutes to style my daughter's hair before school, helping with her homework, the early hours when my son wakes up and wants to talk instead of going back to sleep. It's all precious.
"Things that used to annoy me are things I cherish now."
Rachel added: "My body is weak and it makes it hard to help with my youngest in the day time.
"My girls are a huge help with their little brother and my husband is amazing.
"He's always been a wonderful person and father but there is no way I could get through this without him.
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"One thing I've found myself doing lately is telling my cells in my body to fight. People tell you to fight but like, how do you do that, really?
"So I tell my cells they need to fight this cancer. And sometimes when I step out of the shower I tell my reflection, 'You're alive. Keep going'."
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