Overview

• Hazel Smyth first felt a sharp, burning pain on the right side of her tongue when eating Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps, later flaring with milder foods.
• Two biopsies in August 2024 identified abnormal cells and led to an initial stage-one tongue cancer diagnosis.
• Subsequent surgery revealed cancer in her lymph nodes, reclassifying the case as stage four and prompting a seven-hour operation to remove two tumours.
• Doctors told her the stage-four upstaging carried roughly a 50% five-year survival estimate, according to her account.
• She says she was declared cancer-free in November 2024, was advised preventative radiotherapy, and is urging checks for mouth pain while planning an October skydive for Action Cancer.