When 52-year-old Candi Hulley went for a routine dental check-up, she didn’t expect it to save her life, or change it forever. What began as an ordinary appointment turned into a shocking diagnosis, mouth cancer.
Within weeks, Hulley found herself in a 12-hour surgery that would test the limits of modern medicine and human resilience. Surgeons removed nearly half of her tongue, then rebuilt it using tissue, veins and an artery from her leg. “It’s strange to think part of my leg is now my tongue,” she says, with a wry smile that only recently returned.
Her recovery was a grueling one month rest in the hospital, six months before she could return to work and countless hours relearning how to eat and speak. “I had to start from scratch. There were times I wondered if I’d ever speak clearly again” Hulley recalls.
Continue reading with Eandel
Subscribe to unlock the complete story and receive your subscriber benefits.