{"id":38606,"date":"2025-09-16T19:08:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=38606"},"modified":"2025-09-16T19:08:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:08:53","slug":"mom-diagnosed-with-cancer-after-dismissing-spider-web-symptom-on-her-tongue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=38606","title":{"rendered":"Mom diagnosed with cancer after dismissing ‘spider web’ symptom on her tongue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing.<\/em><\/p>\n

A mother received a devastating cancer diagnosis after doctors ‘dismissed the white mark as her biting it’ for years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sharon Moreby noticed a white, spider web-like patch on her tongue while she was brushing her teeth around two decades ago.<\/p>\n

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The 54-year-old said she was continually told that the mark was dysplasia – a growth of abnormal but non-cancerous cells.<\/p>\n

Over a period of 18 years, Sharon had eight biopsies and a laser treatment on the left side of her tongue, with doctors<\/a> repeatedly insisting the mark was ‘not harmful’.<\/p>\n

The mother-of-four claimed that a surgeon told her the patch was due to her ‘biting her tongue’ in her sleep<\/a>, so she followed his advice and wore dental braces for the next two years.<\/p>\n

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\"Sharon<\/div>\n

Sharon Moreby said her symptoms were dismissed for years (Kennedy News and Media)<\/cite><\/div>\n

However, Sharon’s symptoms got progressively worse, as she experienced earache, jaw pain, issues swallowing, and a new, unexplained lump on her neck.<\/p>\n

But once more, she claims doctors dismissed her growing concerns, putting the condition down to the ‘menopause’.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until Sharon underwent another biopsy in August 2023 that her results revealed she had an aggressive HPV-related tongue cancer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She said: “I had noticed a little, white patch on the left side of my tongue that looked like a spider web when I was brushing my teeth.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think much of it. I wasn’t overly concerned.<\/p>\n

“I was reading a magazine article talking all about the cancers and it mentioned white patches, so I rang my dentist to get it checked out.<\/p>\n

“From then on, over the years it just kept coming back. It kept growing towards the back of my tongue. It was probably the size of a penny.<\/p>\n

“They kept doing biopsies. It was getting more severe. They kept saying it was dysplasia. I thought it can’t be cancer, I’ve had that many biopsies.”<\/p>\n

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Sharon’s symptoms worsened (Kennedy News and Media)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The mom, from Barnsley in the UK<\/a>, added: “They made me wear braces for two years because they thought I was biting my tongue in my sleep.<\/p>\n

“Obviously it didn’t work because I wasn’t doing that. That just aggravated it.<\/p>\n

“I think I probably had cancer at that point and I was told I was just biting my tongue.”<\/p>\n

It was a decade after Sharon first spotted the white spots when things worsened.<\/p>\n

“I started having problems swallowing. I went to the GP and explained all the pain I was in and they said it was probably to do with menopause,” Sharon added.<\/p>\n

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The mom noticed an unexplained lump on her neck (Kennedy News and Media)<\/cite><\/div>\n

A visit to the dental hygienist brought Sharon the much-needed answers, with her being referred for another biopsy that confirmed she had cancer.<\/p>\n

The Brit underwent a neck dissection to remove the cancer from her mouth two months later, followed by a tongue reconstruction performed using tissue from her left arm.<\/p>\n

She is thankfully now in remission, though she does feel ‘let down’ by many healthcare experts after years of fighting for a diagnosis.<\/p>\n

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\"Sharon<\/div>\n

Sharon is now in remission (Kennedy News and Media)<\/cite><\/div>\n

“I’ve no idea why all my biopsies came back clear. I think if I’d left it much longer, I don’t think I’d be here,” Sharon added.<\/p>\n

“I feel like I was let down. I don’t know if that white patch I found all those years ago was cancer.<\/p>\n

“Now looking back, why didn’t they look into it more? Why did it keep coming back?”<\/p>\n

She has since urged others to ‘follow your gut and keep pushing with doctors’.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their <\/em>live chat feature<\/em><\/a>, available 24\/7 every day of the year<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media<\/cite><\/p>\n

Topics:\u00a0Cancer<\/a>, Health<\/a>, UK News<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing. A mother received a devastating cancer diagnosis after doctors ‘dismissed the white mark as her … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38608,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38606\/revisions\/38608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}