I am a single mother of 3, a sales professional, and a singer who has sung on stage, television, and radio. For months I struggled with a sore throat, hoarseness, and at several singing engagements was unable to reach notes that I could have before. After a few rounds of antibiotics and continued humidifier use, massaging my neck one day, I found a lump. The following week I was with an ENT, he scoped my throat and did not see anything. He ordered an ultrasound then a biopsy; by the end of the week I was diagnosed with Advanced Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma with a 4cm tumor. 3 weeks later on January 31, 2008 I was on the operating table.

After the 7 hour surgery, my surgeon told me the cancer was un-encapsulated, the tumor was everywhere, and my right recurrent laryngeal nerve was cut leaving my right vocal chord permanently paralyzed. He said my singing was over and my prognosis was poor. I did not have a voice for about 4 months afterward. March of 2008 I received 256 mc of RAI and soon after, my left remaining vocal chord started moving again and I started speaking softly. By April of 2009, I was miraculously singing at a concert once again but by August 2009 a routine ultrasound showed my cancer had returned.

September was surgery number 2 now with a more specialized surgeon at a different hospital. The surgeon took out some cancerous lymph nodes and my endocrinologist decided not to re-administer RAI because he thought I was resistant since my cancer had come back. I was singing again by November, but in December of 2009, another ultrasound showed I had a large tumor surrounding my healthy left recurrent laryngeal nerve. It was 4cm long completely wrapped around the nerve, the surgeon compared this to ‘chipping a brick off a spaghetti noodle”. I ended up with a super specialist at a large teaching institution and was warned that the surgery was complicated and not to panic, but I more than likely would need a tracheotomy after the surgery and for the rest of my life. I grieved my voice, my singing, and my breathing in general but was ready to fight for my life.

My third surgery was in March 2010 and after the 4 hour surgery, the brilliant surgeon was able to save my left nerve, in turn saving my left vocal chord, but did have to take part of my trachea. Since my papillary cancer was a rare and aggressive subtype, the doctors decided to do aggressive external beam radiation and treat my cancer like esophageal cancer. This formed scar tissue around my left nerve and vocal chord so now that too is partially paralyzed. Despite vocalizing with a half of a functioning vocal chord along with some difficulty breathing at times because my vocal chords now sit closer together, I am singing again. It is a miracle that even my doctors don’t understand. It’s been a long and emotional journey, but I’m still standing and I’m alive! Oh yeah, officially cancer free!

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This guest post was written by #hero Anna Warner, who writes “Anna’s Lipstick Journey”. Follow Anna on Twitter and Facebook.

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