It's been a very difficult couple of years on so many levels.  In November 2024 my wife was diagnosed with stage four cancer in her nose and sinuses.  The diagnosis came after months of the medical profession ignoring the growing pain and swelling in her face.  She was told several times that it was a minor problem and it wasn’t until we arranged a private appointment that the cancer was identified.  Our son was 10 months old at the time. 

In December 2024 she underwent a 23 hour operation to remove an aggressive and rapidly growing tumour from her face.  The operation involved the complete amputation of her nose and several skin grafts across her face.  She also had her top jaw removed along with all the attached teeth.  As the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, she also had all of them removed from the right hand side of her face. 

After the operation, her surgeon told her that the cancer was millimetres from her brain and that if things had been left another two weeks, she would probably have been dead by April. 

She then underwent painful radiotherapy and chemotherapy as an additional treatment to weaken her immune system and make the radiotherapy more effective. 

2025 was a year of providing her constant care, taking her to multiple weekly hospital appointments, feeding her (she still receives most of her nutrition through a tube) and further hospital admissions for infections and complications.  She lived for the whole year with a hole in her face where her nose once sat before a further reconstructive operation in December which brought its own set of complications. 

In early 2026, she was recovering well before we received the devastating news that the cancer had returned, this time in the lymph nodes on the left hand side of her face.  The operation to remove them was successful but she wasn’t able to have further radiotherapy to kill off any stray cancer cells so the likelihood of another return is potentially much higher. 

She is on the mend now, wearing a prosthetic nose and slowly learning how to eat and swallow again. 

Recovery has been challenging in terms of her own physical and mental health as well as raising our son (now two and a half) and financially completely devastating.  She has missed out on so much time with him and vice versa. 

My wife went from maternity leave straight into sick leave and I took a year off work before leaving my job to start my own business so I could spend more time at home with her and our son.  All our savings were depleted, especially after going through IVF in 2023. 

It’s been a slow start to business life and at the moment we are completely financially wrecked.  This is causing my wife further stress and worry which I can only hope is not affecting her recovery. 

We have had some help from family and friends but now we need further help.  The possibility of losing our house after the nightmare of the last two years is beyond devastating and we are desperate for as much help and support as possible. 

You can read more about her experience on her blog: www.substack.com/@frominsideout

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