27-year-old mother and wife, Heather Longdon was told by her doctor that her persistent cough and sore throat were merely symptoms of a bad cold. But when six months passed and Longdon’s condition didn’t improve, she returned to the doctor and requested that they conduct more tests on her.
That was when Longdon’s doctors finally discovered that she had stage three laryngeal cancer, cancer that forms in the throat and larynx. Thankfully, after seven weeks of treatment, Longdon’s disease disappeared.
Unfortunately, Longdon’s “all clear” was short-lived.
Just four months later, Longdon began to experience pains in her throat again. Her doctors, however, continued to tell her that she simply had a cold. They brushed Longdon off until she demanded to have a biopsy done.
Longdon’s laryngeal cancer had returned and this time, the only treatment option available to her was completely removing the affected area: her voice box.
Almost immediately after her voice box was removed, however, Longdon contracted an infection that caused her throat to swell up to twice its usual size. Her doctors had to perform two more operations on her to reduce the swelling and treat her infection.
Despite her doctor’s best efforts, Longdon’s condition continues to be unstable.
Every subsequent operation to reduce her throat swelling only causes infection to settle in again, leaving Longdon unable to speak or communicate with her son and husband, unless its via computer.
Longdon’s friends and family are now fundraising for her to have a voice box transplant in the United States.
“If I could get to somewhere that I could get a better voice box that would mean the world to me,” Longdon wrote, “To be able to tell my son I love him, just little things like that, it means so little to some people as they have a voice. But mine's been taken away and I didn't realize how much is taken it for granted until it was gone.”
Still, Longdon attempts to keep a strong front, “I'm just thankful to still be here to watch my son grow and make plenty of memories.”
