Enjoying Time With Her Dog After Battling Tongue Cancer
- “Top Chef” alum Shirley Chung is enjoying life in “100% remission” from stage four tongue cancer, a type of oral cancer that is also referred to as a head and neck cancer, with the help of her beloved 12-year-old dog named Baxter.
- Chung battled stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma tongue cancer through radiation and chemo treatments.
- It’s important to remember that life doesn’t slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall well-being and continuing to do the things you love, like spending time with animals, can be very beneficial.
- Tongue cancer doesn’t always show signs, but symptoms can include: a lump on the side of the tongue that touches the teeth, pain, a sense of fullness in the throat, difficulty swallowing, the feeling of a lump in the neck or throat, voice changes and ear pain.
- It’s much more common to know someone who has a head or neck cancer, like tongue cancer, nowadays than it was several decades ago. And that’s because of its strong connection to HPV, which is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.
The 48-year-old “The Dumpling Queen of Los Angeles,” who was declared in remission from tongue cancer 11 months after her May 2024 diagnosis, took to Instagram to post photos from “Dog beach Sunday.”
Read MoreOne of the photos featured Chung taking a selfie with her loving pup, while another showed the two rubbing noses.View this post on Instagram
It’s unclear what type of dog Baxter is, but according to her social media posts, Baxter was a puppy back in 2013.
Friends and fans were quick to comment on the sweet post, with one writing, “Awwww I adore your scruffy pup too…you look fabulous.”
PET THERAPY: How A Pooch Helped During Chemo Click Here For The Story
Another commented, “That last pic shows such love on yours and your pups face.”
A third wrote, “So good to see you healthy and smiling,” while a fourth fan said, “Such a cutie. They bring such comfort to us especially through tough times.”
Baxter joined Chung and her husband back in 2013, when they also had another dog named Chasey. However, Chasey passed away in 2014.
Following Chasey’s passing, Chung wrote a tribute post on Facebook, further showing her love for her dogs, “We don’t have children, Chase is our son. We play this silly little game with him every night right before we take our shower. Because Chase hates to be shower, so we would pretend and screaming “shower” to him, chase him around the bed room and bath room….. We played this game every night for 11 years.
“I work late nights, my husband is asleep most of the time when I get home. Chase always wait for me by the stair way, watch me eat dinner, wait for me to finish shower, hang out with me while I unwind, and fall asleep next to me while I watch TV. Every morning, as soon as my husband get out the bed, he would walk up to my husband’s spot, throw himself on his pillow, his butt facing my face, go back to sleep with me till I get up.”
After sharing more heartfelt memories, she concluded, “I lost my best friend, we lost our son. Chasey, mommy and daddy love you so so much, you will forever live in our hearts. We will think about you every new place we visit, we will think about you every important event happens in the future. You love us unconditionally, we will spread your love, take on more foster sisters and brothers for you. R.I.P. my love, I promise you, one day, our family will reunited again.”
We’re glad to see Chung has had Baxter by her side since Chasey’s passing. Baxter has joined Chung throughout life’s milestones and continues to be there for her, offering needed support.
View this post on Instagram
The Power of Therapy Dogs
Although Chung’s adorable pup isn’t described as a therapy pet, the dog still offers her an immense amount of support. It’s important to understand that therapy dogs are trained to help people with, with or without cancer, feel better emotionally and physically. A cancer therapy dog helps a person going through cancer treatment by reducing anxiety and lifting a person’s mood. These types of dogs mainly provide comfort and support through cancer.
Studies have shown that spending time with dogs lowers a person’s blood pressure and the stress hormone, cortisol. Therapy dogs may help with pain management, too, as time with dogs can trigger a release of endorphins which mitigate pain and discomfort.
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How Can Dogs Help?
Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet’s experts says that having a positive mood through cancer can benefit treatment. Also, scientific evidence around depression and cancer shows that treating depression positively impacts cancer treatment. This is where help from cancer therapy dogs can play a tremendous role. However, for more severe cases of anxiety and depression, speak to a psychologist before pursuing treatment or support from a furry friend.
Jane Kopelman, a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and owner of All About Dogs, said during a previous interview that the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Caring Canine Program was hoping to get more pups involved in the program because patients request them so often.
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“What most patients say, and studies have proven, is that the dogs reduce anxiety, reduce depression, and they give people a sense of hope they often motivate people,” Kopelman said. “Patients have said that they were so eager to have the dogs come that it motivated them to get up.”
The dogs can visit patients who are in the hospital after undergoing surgery and also visit outpatient locations where patients may be undergoing treatment like chemotherapy.
If you’re interested in pursuing a cancer therapy dog, speak with your doctor about the following steps, or an oncological social worker or organizations to connect with that train these types of dogs. Note that waiting lists for service dogs are often long and their training period is a lengthy process, as well, so time is of the essence if you wish to get a service dog.
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Animals and Healing
It is often said that animals improve our quality of life, and that can especially be true for people battling cancer or for those navigating survivorship, like Chung.
What Are the Benefits of Pet Therapy?
We often need to keep going, and there have been studies showing the power of passion of positivity affecting the outcome of your disease. What still brings you joy? It’s important to do things to feed your emotional health just as much as your physical.
It’s important to remember that life doesn’t slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall wellbeing and continuing to do the things you love, like spending time with animals, can be very beneficial.
RELATED: Pet Therapy Can Really Help During Cancer Treatment: “It Takes Me Out of My World”
For those without dogs at home, more and more often we are seeing chemotherapy centers and hospitals bringing dogs in to meet with patients and to brighten their day with a wagging tail and a slobbery kiss.
View this post on Instagram
For instance, at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Caring Canine teams make regularly scheduled bedside and lounge visits, even turning up on holidays, which can be the loneliest times for patients.
Separately, Alison Snow, who works in cancer support services at Mount Sinai, previously told SurvivorNet that there’s research to show that animal visits to hospitals can be extremely beneficial to people battling cancer, as well as other ailments.
“You can hear the excitement in the air when the dog is around and there is research to show that having animal-assisted visits is helpful to patients going through cancer in terms of lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, decreasing depression, and overall, helping patients feel less isolated,” said Snow.
Shirley Chung’s Tongue Cancer Diagnosis
Chung, who made the difficult decision to close her L.A. restaurant called Ms. Chi Cafe while she focused on her recovery, first announced her diagnosis in July 2024.
“I have some personal news to share with you. Since last year December, I had a series of dental issues, I bit my tongue severely; I fractured my tooth and had to extract it and get an implant… we thought it was because I am a heavy teeth grinder,” she said in an Instagram post.
“And I was too busy to see a EMT specialist. The end of May, ulcers erupted in my mouth and my oral surgeon discovered a hidden tumor under my tongue. A few days later, I was diagnosed, stage 4 tongue cancer, as cancer cells also spread into my lymph nodes.”
View this post on Instagram
Shortly after receiving her diagnosis, all Chung said she heard was “‘option 1, surgery, 100% removal of your tongue.'”
Thankfully, Chung’s determination to find another treatment option led her doctor to tell her and her husband about a special case that took place at the University of Chicago. It was there they were told about how another person battling tongue cancer was cured through chemotherapy and radiation, something she described as a “unicorn case.”
“Higher survival rate, or keep my tongue? I chose to keep my tongue, I am a fighter, I am a chef, I can be that unicorn too,” Chung said at the time.
By December 2024, Chung shared a celebratory Instagram post, revealing that she hit a milestone in her cancer treatment: 10 weeks of radiation and chemo treatments.
She went through some challenging side effects, that made it difficult to sleep, eat, and even drink water.
Chung later revealed she has since been able to drink smoothies again, as well as eat soups, ice cream and egg custard.
After noting her taste buds are slowing returning to normal, she added, “I can taste 50% of sweet and savory and all the warm spices.”
Expert Resources On Pet Therapy
- Pet Therapy Can Really Help During Cancer Treatment: “It Takes Me Out of My World”
- ‘Nothing Makes Me Happier Than My 4-legged Kids!’ — How Pet Therapy Brings Comfort to Cancer Patients
- Pet Therapy: Sharon Osbourne, Colon Cancer Survivor, Introduces The Newest Member of The Osbourne Clan: ‘Queen of the House’
- Pet Therapy: Bonnie Chapman Says Her Cat Is Missing Beth — How Pets Can Help During Cancer And Times Of Grief
Chung also recounted having an emergency surgery to replace her “G tube,” otherwise known as a gastrostomy tube, which is surgically placed in one’s body through the abdomen to the stomach to bring in nutrition, fluids, and medicine.
Her most recent procedure was to have her “G-tube” removed, which she has celebrated as just another step in her healing process.
A G-tube is a “gastrostomy feeding tube insertion” which is put in place through something called an endoscopy, MedlinePlus reports.
The procedure is performed for a variety of reasons and some people only have the G-tube in for a short period of time, though they can also be left in permanently.
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Tongue Cancer: A Type of Head & Neck Cancer
According to Cedars-Sinai, several types of cancer develop in the tongue, with the most common being squamous cell carcinoma.
The two types of tongue cancer are:
- Cancer of the oral tongue, which consists of the front two-thirds of the tongue that you can stick out
- Cancer of the base of the tongue, the area which is the back one-third of the tongue that extends down the throat
Although some people may be diagnosed with tongue cancer and have no risk factors, Cedars-Sinai says this type of cancer is most commonly found in adults 40 years old and up. Men are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with tongue cancer.
Other risk factors include:
- Smoking [smokers are 5x more likely to develop tongue cancer than nonsmokers]
- Drinking alcohol
- Human papillomavirus (HPV)
African-American men also have a greater risk than caucasians.
Tongue cancer may be hard to spot in its early stages, however it’s important to be aware of the symptoms, as catching the disease earlier will lead to an easier treatment path.
Symptoms might include:
- An unusual lump on the side of the tongue
- An ulcer-like lump, of a grayish-pink to red color
- A lump that bleeds easily when touched
- Trouble swallowing
- Voice changes
- Pain in the ear
- Pain in the throat
- Feeling of fullness in the throat
HPV and Cancer Risk: The Basics
Throat cancer is usually diagnosed through X-rays, CT scans, and PET scans. A diagnosis also often requires a biopsy.
For tongue cancer treatment, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are usually done.
It’s much more common to know someone who has a head or neck cancer, like tongue cancer, now-a-days than it was several decades ago. And that’s because of its strong connection to the human papillomavirus, also known as HPV, which is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.
“From the 1980s to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent,” Dr. Ted Teknos, a head and neck cancer specialist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, told SurvivorNet during a previous interview.
Expert Resources On Pet Therapy
- Pet Therapy Can Really Help During Cancer Treatment: “It Takes Me Out of My World”
- ‘Nothing Makes Me Happier Than My 4-legged Kids!’ — How Pet Therapy Brings Comfort to Cancer Patients
- Pet Therapy: Sharon Osbourne, Colon Cancer Survivor, Introduces The Newest Member of The Osbourne Clan: ‘Queen of the House’
- Pet Therapy: Bonnie Chapman Says Her Cat Is Missing Beth — How Pets Can Help During Cancer And Times Of Grief
The vast majority of people in the United States — both men and women — will eventually get infected with HPV, according to Dr. Allen Ho, a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai.
“The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing,” he told SurvivorNet.
“Probably less than 1% of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years it develops from a viral infection into a tumor, and a cancer.”
It’s unclear whether HPV alone is enough to trigger the changes in your cells that lead to head and neck cancers, or whether this happens in combination with other risk factors like smoking.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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