A Co Armagh woman is urging the public to be more aware of head, mouth and neck sores after her niggling “mouth ulcer” turned out to be a form of skin cancer.
Forty-four-year-old nurse, Jennifer O’Hanlon – from Killeavy – told Armagh I that in November of 2024 she was otherwise well and in good health but had been suffering with what she can only describe as a “mouth ulcer” on the back of her tongue that just wouldn’t go away.
Other than being bothersome it wasn’t causing her any trouble. She assumed – as many would – that it wasn’t healing because it was “rubbing off her teeth”.
Then in January 2025, she said it began getting “really painful” and she was struggling to eat and drink, so she booked herself an appointment to see a dentist in February.
Like Jennifer, the dentist wasn’t entirely sure what it was but, she says, he “looked at her carefully for about an hour” before referring her to Oral Medicine in Craigavon.
On March 20, she attended that appointment in Craigavon. There, she said they took one look and said, “we need to biopsy this”.
She asked, “Do you think it’s cancer?” They said, yes. But the news didn’t entirely come as a surprise to Jennifer.
For months she had been doing her own research – and while she knows ‘Dr Google’ is never to be trusted – she had in many ways prepared herself for the worst.
The medical team sent her biopsy off and made additional referrals in the interim. Two weeks later, the biopsy revealed what she already knew was coming.
However, an additional blow was dealt when Jennifer’s surgeon in Dundonald hospital informed her that her cancer was Stage Four, squamous cell carcinoma.
She was told she would need surgery, radiotherapy and possibly chemotherapy to tackle the growth and diseased cells.
“It was a very, very complicated surgery. It was 15 hours long,” said Jennifer of her partial glossectomy surgery. “It was to remove the tumour from the tongue and then they take a free flap from your arm – which is a flap of skin along with all the blood vessels that go to it – to replace a part of the tongue.
There were two surgeons. One to remove the tumour and one to do the plastics part of it. Because my tumour was so far back they had to crack my whole jaw open. It had spread to the lymph nodes as well and they had to remove 39 lymph nodes.”
The surgery she describes as “horrendous” but, given that her surgeon informed her that without undergoing the procedure she would have had “a year to live”, she knew it was her only option.
At that stage she had only been married two years, she had her mum and brother too to think about and while she says “I didn’t have a fear of dying”, she also had far too much to live for.
The surgery itself was set for her second wedding anniversary but a cancellation came up and she was moved to the Monday prior.
When she came around from the anaesthetic, she found she had a tracheostomy – a tube inserted to facilitate breathing – as the swelling in her neck from the surgery would have otherwise compromised her ability to breathe.
The tracheostomy tube remained in place for nine days. During that time she couldn’t speak or eat unassisted and had to use a writing board to communicate.
“It was awful”, she said. “It has to be suctioned by staff every half-an-hour or hour because you’re constantly choking on secretions”.
She had a feeding tube through her nose, drains in throughout the dissections.
She said: “They do warn you that you’re going to feel like you want to die… that you’re going to die and that’s exactly how I felt. I didn’t want to be there anymore.”
After 11 days, Jennifer surprised the medical team and all involved with her rapid recovery. She had her feeding tube removed, tracheostomy removed and was allowed home.
She started radiotherapy but sadly, just three days in, found she couldn’t swallow and had to have the feeding tube re-inserted, she said, “the radiotherapy was going straight through my neck and totally burning my skin, it was like open burns.”
After finishing a gruelling 35 rounds of radiotherapy over five days a week for seven and a half weeks, Jennifer ended up once again “very sick” with shingles in her eye and mouth.
“During radiotherapy your mouth just fills with ulcers. You can’t eat or drink… it’s nearly impossible.”
At that point in her seemingly never-ending journey of pain and problems, Jennifer had to receive a syringe driver. While it looked scary to those around her, Jennifer knew it was harmless and only to help her control the pain.
Today, Jennifer thankfully has no sign of present cancer cells in her body. She does, however, have her war wounds.
She says she still suffers with a speech impediment that she’s receiving speech and language help with, she doesn’t produce very much saliva and so drinks water constantly, she has swallowing problems that causes her to choke on food, the chemotherapy sent her into early menopause, the radiotherapy gave her an underactive thyroid, she has chronic pain “from top to bottom”, brain fog and fatigue.
“My life has totally turned around,” said Jennifer. She now sees counsellors and psychologists to help her come to terms with what she has endured.
“They told me it’s a form of mourning,” she continued. “You go into a restaurant and see people tucking into a big burger or a steak. Your life revolves so much around food, everyone’s does. It is awful but it’s about learning to live with it. It’s a new normal as they call it.”
In May, she bravely started to document her experience via TikTok. Her account – known as Jen’s Journey | SCC – has grown to boast over 3,000 followers that provide her with an indescribable support network.
“They have helped me so much,” said Jennifer. “It just really helped push me on”.
She also feels strongly about using the channel to spread awareness for head, mouth and neck cancers and to urge people to immediately check lumps and sores that feel out of the ordinary.
If she can help one person, she will have made a difference – and that’s all that matters, she said.
Anyone wanting to speak to Jennifer directly is encouraged to reach out through TikTok. She would be more than happy to chat.
You can follow Jennifer’s journey via TikTok here.
