I thought my sore throat was just a cold – but it turned out to be mouth cancer
Clare endured gruelling rounds of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and was fitted with a feeding tube for nine months while she fought the disease
WHEN Clare Davis-Eaton got a sore throat days before Christmas she put it down to a nasty bug.
The 44-year-old was prone to throat infections so it didn't cross her mind that it could be anything to worry about.
It was only when she noticed a pea-sized lump that she started to panic. After a friend bugged her to see a doctor, Clare went to her GP to get it checked.
At first they thought it was a blocked saliva gland, but when the results came back negative Clare was sent for a biopsy two months later, in February 2016.
“Even then the word cancer to me didn’t seem like anything, it was something that happened to someone else,” Clare told The Sun Online.
“I was told it wasn’t lymphoma, which is what they had been suspecting, so I thought ‘oh great’ and relaxed.
“And then there was that three-letter word, ‘but’, followed by 'it is cancer'. Those four words sent my whole world tumbling down.”
Clare, from Grimsby, was told she would need chemotherapy and radiotherapy plus a feeding tube, as her throat would become too raw to eat.
Tests showed the tumour in her throat was actually secondary cancer, meaning doctors had to find out where her disease had started.
More tests revealed her primary was mouth cancer, the disease starting at the base of her tongue.
“I just heard the words feeding tube and chemotherapy and radiotherapy and I just thought ‘woah, I’m only 41 years old, this doesn’t happen to me’," she said.
“The question for me was ‘when – when did I catch this’, but no one can ever pinpoint the day you get cancer.
“I didn’t know how I was going to tell my kids, am I going to see my kids graduate, am I going to see my kids become parents?
“How do I walk out of this hospital and be Clare with cancer, but still be Clare?”
Clare, a former support officer for people with learning disabilities, started treatment – undergoing gruelling radiotherapy five days a week for six weeks.
She was fitted with a feeding tube in March, which wasn’t removed until December 2016.
“I had to show my kids how to put things down my feeding tube,” she said.
“I had to have a mask fitted to receive my radiotherapy.
“I had burns on my neck, blisters, cracked skin that would come off in the night. Everything tasted metallic because you lose your sense of taste buds.”
Clare lost part of her sense of taste and still suffers from a dry mouth and difficulty swallowing, years after her treatment.
“I can’t swallow meat anymore, I find the texture extremely difficult," she said.
“I can’t eat anything spicy like curries, chillies, jalapenos which were my favourite, I also can’t do apples or pears unless they are cooked.
“I can’t eat anything too dry because I have no saliva glands to help it go down.
“You have to flavour stuff because everything tastes really bland but I can’t over flavour it because it burns my mouth.”
A CANCER THAT STARTS IN THE THROAT
Throat cancer refers to a number of different cancers that grow in the throat.
The cancers are treated according to where they started and the type of cell they started from.
The symptoms of throat cancer are often similar to symptoms of other much less serious conditions, like a sore throat.
You may also notice swelling, difficulty swallowing and changes to your voice.
Depending on the severity of your cancer you may be treated with surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
The changes in Clare’s mouth means she can’t enjoy Christmas dinner anymore – pigs in blankets, turkey and even stuffing are a no-go.
Clare finished her chemotherapy and radiotherapy on June 15, 2016 and was told she was in remission on November 23 that year.
But her taste will never come back.
“It’s still, two years on, affecting my daily living,” she said.
“I’d rather the side effects, don’t get me wrong, but it’s all still there.
MORE ON CANCER
“You don’t realise what you take for granted in life, like coffee with friends or going out for a curry, or even just being able to cook for your family and having the same meal.
“I would love to tuck into steak and chips one day but it’s never going to happen for me.”
Clare is now working with Macmillan Cancer Support to help create recipes for cancer patients that they can enjoy with the whole family.
She said meal times are such an important part of social and family life, but often cancer can destroy your enjoyment of your meals.
Macmillan Cancer Support and Greene King have created a series of Christmas recipes for people living with cancer. For more information visit
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