Published Apr 12, 2023

Brave Mom, 37, Re-Learns to Speak After Losing Nearly All of Her Tongue to Cancer: Doctors ‘Worked Miracles’

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Inspiration for Cancer Fighters

Gemma Weeks, 37, was told she might never speak again after her surgery for stage 4 mouth and neck cancer.
But she’s defied the odds and has re-learned to speak after losing nearly all of her tongue in treatment.
Sometimes hearing inspiring stories while you’re faced with a cancer battle can be a huge help. If you’re in need of inspiration, we’re here for you.
One inspiring cancer warrior is Sean Swarner. After being told he only had a couple weeks to live as a teen, he grew up to conquer some of the world’s toughest mountains.
Another resilient cancer warrior is Lilly Bumpus. After surviving Ewing sarcoma as a baby, she went on to break the record for the most amount of Girl Scout cookie boxes sold in a single season.

Gemma Weeks was told she might never speak again after losing nearly all of her tongue to cancer. But amazingly, the survivor has re-learned how to speak and is sharing her story for all to hear.

The 37-year-old’s cancer journey began six years before her diagnosis when a small white patch appeared on her tongue. Eventually, the spot became a small hole with the pain forcing her to the hospital. That’s when Weeks, of England, found out she had stage 4 mouth and neck cancer.

For treatment, she needed surgery to remove 90% of her tongue, and skin grafts were taken from her arm to reconstruct it. Surgeons also removed all the glands in her neck.

“The surgeons were brilliant, they worked miracles on me by rebuilding the left side of my mouth, and my tongue with grafts from my arm,” she said. “They used a vein, a nerve and lots of flesh from my left arm.”

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Everything went smoothly, but the scariest part of the surgery was learning that it might permanently take away her ability to speak.

"I was terrified at the thought of never being able to speak again, and also to never be able to eat and drink with my mouth but at the end of the day it was a small price to pay to be alive,” she said. “I would rather see my daughter growing up and not miss all her special moments.”

Immediately following the operation, Weeks wasn’t able to talk at all. But she eventually said her first word when her fiancÃ© and daughter came for a visit a few days later.

“It didn’t sound at all like me, but it was progress, which I’ve been working on ever since, and now people can actually understand me, mostly,” she said. “I can mostly talk normally now but I struggle with a lot of words, especially if they have c or s in them and I don’t sound like I used to. My new tongue is connected to the left side of my mouth so it’s extremely difficult.”

Next up for Weeks is radiation and chemotherapy, but SurvivorNet has no doubt she’ll be taking it all like a champ. If you’d like to learn more about Weeks’ story or help support her financially, check out her GoFundMe page.

More Inspiration for Cancer Warriors

Cancer can be a physically and emotionally exhausting experience. So sometimes a little inspiration with stories like that of Gemma Weeks can go a long way.

Here at SurvivorNet, we have had the privilege of sharing many inspiring stories about people faced with cancer. One such cancer warrior is Sean Swarner.

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At ages 13 and 16, Swarner was diagnosed with two different kinds of cancer. His doctors told him he had a couple weeks to live during his second cancer battle, but he refused to let himself be consumed by the prognosis.

"I didn't choose to go crawl up in a corner and die and think, ‘Okay, well, that's it, I'm done, game over,’" Swarner told SurvivorNet. "Nobody knows how much time you have left on the planet. So, what I wanted to do was make the most of it. If the prognosis is going to be alive for 14 days, I wanted to truly love and live life. I still do."

Now in his 40s, Swarner has done exactly that. He’s known as The Cancer Climber because he’s embarked on many a daring hike to test his own endurance and share his message of hope and triumph with cancer patients worldwide. Check out SurvivorNetTV's documentary True North to follow Swarner’s journey to the North Pole as a part of his Mission of Hope a series of climbs where he brings a Flag of Hope signed by cancer warriors to every peak.

Another heartwarming story we love to share is that of pediatric cancer survivor Lilly Bumpus. After receiving a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma a rare type of bone cancer often found in children and young adults in 2012, she underwent an intense chemotherapy regimen and surgery to remove some bones from her chest wall all before she was 1 year old.

One Tough Cookie: Resilient 8-Year-Old Who Overcame Ewing Sarcoma Sells More Than 32,000 Boxes of Girl Scout Cookies To Break Record

Thankfully still in remission today, she’s grown up to be quite an accomplished young lady despite still dealing with side effects from her intense treatment. She sold more than 32,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies amid the COVID-19 pandemic to break the record for the most amount of boxes sold in a single season.

"My favorite thing about Lilly is that she never gives up," her mother, Trish, told SurvivorNet. "So, Lillybug got to 10,000 boxes one week into Girl Scout cookie season. Never, ever has that happened. So we went from there. I then approached Girl Scouts and said, 'What happens now if she sells 20,000 boxes?' And they said, '20,000 boxes, yeah, okay.' So we said, 'Game on.' So then we sold on and sold on, and she got into 20,000 boxes."

"And then we went to 32,000," added Lilly.

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