Vivian's fight against tongue cancer

Hello,

My name is Paraskevi Eggers (formerly Kritikou) but my friends and family call me Vivian. I was diagnosed on January 3rd with stage 3 tongue cancer. Something I would have never expected to hear only being 24 years old.

Some things about me

I was born and raised in Thessaloniki Greece. I used to swim for Iraklis Thessalonikis and I was part of the national team. Then I had the amazing opportunity to have a full ride to swim as a division 1 athlete at Indiana State University to continue my education. That's where I also met and fell in love with my husband Dylan. I graduated with a bachelor's in Applied Medicine and Rehabilitation, with a minor in Psychology and a minor in Massage Therapy in 2021. Since then we live in Columbus Indiana with our rescue cat Butters. After graduating I discovered my passion for baking and cooking when I made my husband our first meal in our new house!

My medical journey

On September 2023, I noticed a small bump on my tongue that resembled a cankersore. It wouldn't hurt unless I was eating something spicy. I then started having ear aches and went to an urgent care to see what is going on. They told me that I didn't have to worry about anything and sent me home with some lidocaine.

After Thanksgiving I got COVID and suddenly the ulcer grew 5 times in size. I didn't know what to do and where to go. Until one of my friends took me to her dentist. He then referred me to an oral surgeon. On December 18th I had my biopsy done. That's when the pain started getting agonizing. I couldn't swallow my own saliva, eating was impossible and I started slurring my speech.

Then on January 3rd I got the call. "Mrs Eggers, you have cancer". My heart dropped. How could I have cancer? I am only 24 yeard old, have been an athlete all of my life, a summa cum laude student, and a newlywed. And then they proceeded to tell me that I have squamous cell carcinoma a type of skin cancer that is usually caused by heavy smoking and drinking and is more prevalent over the age of 55. I have never smoked or drank in my life. Tongue cancer is so rare on its own, being less than 1% of the population, 1/4 women, and 1/20 being under 50 years old, that me having this cancer is only just bad luck.

Then on January 17th, I had a PET/CT scan that revealed that my cancer has metastasized on to my neck lymph nodes. That meant that I have stage 3 tongue cancer.

The plan

Now I am waiting to have a partial glossectomy on January 30th. That means they will remove the tumor and surrounding tissue from my tongue and will create a flap using arteries, veins and skin from my left wrist. Then they will add skin from my thigh to wrist to cover my wrist tendons. My hospital stay will be 10 days. During those 10 days I will have a tracheotomy and NG tube along with other medical procedures that follow this type of surgery. If everything goes to plan I will have a PEG tube inserted and will need speech therapy to be able to learn to swallow, eat and talk with my newly reconstructed tongue.

Updates:

On january 30th, the doctors removed a 6×6cm mass from my tongue and replaced it with the graft. The 11 hrs surgery went perfect. However, on February 2nd my flap turned necrotic, meaning that it started dying. The reason was that the vein that used to be on my arm suddenly had 2 blood clots. The doctors pricked my tongue and instead of bright red blood it was stagnant purple. I was rushed into a 7 hrs 40 mins surgery to remove the clots. Two days later my tongue started looking purple again. My doctor gave me 3 options. One was to make a new flap using my other arm. However, we wouldn't know if that flap would be viable either. The 2nd option was to follow an experimental intense treatment that I would have to follow every 2 hrs fir the next 6 days with 60% success rate. Last I could get a skin graft instead that would leave me much more limited with my tongue. I decided to fight against odds and trust God with the 2nd option. After 6 days of no sleep and bleeding from my mouth non stop on February 12th my new tongue deemed to be viable. During the treatments I had my 3rd surgery to get my peg tube and we added a speaking valve to my trach. I was able to finally talk with my family. It was such a hard time during the treatment it is so hard to put it into words. On February 14th we took out my trach, I wad able to eat broth and drink water for the first time in 15 days and I was able to leave the hospital.

Currently

On February 20th I am meeting my radiation oncologist to discuss chemo and radiation treatments.

Our wishes

The medical bills have already started to pile on us. And as a newlywed couple we would have not expected to have such extraneous medical bills in such age. Since I am not able to work for at least 3 to 4 months it will impact us severely. We would be so grateful if you are able to donate to help us. Any amount helps.

If you prefer to directly give any funds to me you can use my PayPal or venmo.

Venmo: vivianeggers

Paypal: vivianeggers

Thank you so much.

Lots of love,

Vivian Eggers.