Jeff Bradford initially thought his sore throat was caused by renovation dust – but it was throat cancer caused by the HPV16 virus transmitted through oral sex decades earlier.
Jeff Bradford
A north-east dad who thought his persistent sore throat was due to dust from refurbishing his gym was shocked to learn it was throat cancer that had been caused by the HPV16 virus contracted through oral sex.
Jeff Bradford, 62, first noticed his throat was irritated after working on the rafters of his gym in March 2016. “We were in the loft putting some equipment up onto the rafters and there was a lot of dust and insulation. I had a mask but a couple of days after I had a bit of a sore throat and I thought it was just the dust but I couldn’t shake it,” he explained. He initially tried gargling soluble aspirin, assuming it was a typical sore throat.
After two weeks with no improvement, Jeff, who is from Forres in Moray, visited his GP, who diagnosed “classic tonsillitis” and prescribed antibiotics. When the symptoms persisted, he returned to a different doctor, who gave a stronger dose and took a throat swab, eventually referring him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
“They must have seen the photos and thought ‘there’s something dodgy going on there’. I couldn’t see anything but I could feel something touching the back of my tongue, it was making me gag. It was like something was tickling the back of my tongue,” Jeff remembered.
At the hospital, a specialist examined Jeff and scheduled him for a biopsy. While on the operating table, the surgeon informed him the thumb-sized mass at the back of his throat had doubled in size since the last scan and recommended immediate removal, reports the Daily Star.
“The surgeon came up that evening [after the surgery] and he said ‘looking at it, I think you’ve got stage three cancer.’ I was just shocked,” Jeff revealed.
After the four-hour operation, tests confirmed stage-three throat cancer. Doctors told Jeff that the cancer was caused by the HPV16 strain, which can be transmitted through sexual activity, particularly oral sex.
“A week later I went back and that’s when they mentioned HPV, I didn’t know what that was. HPV is caught through sexual transmission, it’s normally from oral sex. I was totally shocked it was from that,” Jeff admitted, adding that doctors suggested he’d contracted the virus decades earlier, before he met his wife Heidi Bradford.
Jeff underwent chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiotherapy, which left him bedridden for three months. “Radiotherapy caused really bad burns. It was like someone took a blowtorch to my neck, it was horrible. I went home and went to bed for three months,” he shared.
Now cancer-free for a decade, Jeff is encouraging others not to dismiss persistent symptoms. “If someone has a persistent sore throat my advice is to get it checked out, it could be easily missed if you don’t push it. Everybody does it, don’t they? It’s a normal, sexual activity with somebody you love… I would never say to anyone ‘give up oral sex’… but it might put people off that. I think if it’s not talked about quite candidly it’ll get brushed under the carpet and if people are embarrassed to talk about it they may avoid treatment,” he stated.
Jeff, a former Royal Air Force corporal and father-of-two, described his diagnosis as simply “bad luck.”
“I’ve had a few partners before I met my wife, but you just go about life like everyone else. You don’t expect when you’re young ‘do that and I might get cancer when I’m 50-odd’,” he explained.
What is HPV?
According to the NHS, human papillomavirus (HPV) is a group of viruses that affect the skin and moist membranes, including the cervix, anus, mouth, and throat. It is commonly transmitted through sexual activity, including oral sex, and can trigger changes in cells that may lead to cancers, such as cervical or potentially throat cancer.