{"id":252789,"date":"2026-04-16T16:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/252789\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:07:13","slug":"two-time-tongue-cancer-survivor-why-i-support-research-at-ut-md-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/252789\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-time tongue cancer survivor: Why I support research at UT\u00a0MD\u00a0Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, the most meaningful breakthroughs in medicine aren\u2019t about saving your life \u2014 they\u2019re about saving your quality of life. That was certainly the case for me when facing my second possible\u00a0recurrence<\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0tongue cancer<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0just\u00a0six years in\u00a0the spring of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By then, I\u2019d already undergone two oral surgeries near my home in Pennsylvania. Each one came with its own set of frustrations \u2014 as well as a painful recovery period. So, when my local oncologists recommended a third surgery, I balked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea of losing even more of my tongue felt unbearable. I\u2019d already lost about 15% of it in the first two procedures combined. I wanted to explore other possibilities that would allow me to preserve both my tongue\u2019s function and my current quality of life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I went to UT MD Anderson. It\u2019s also why I\u2019m supporting Dr. Moran Amit\u2019s<\/a> research there now.<\/p>\n

The clinical trial that gave me hope<\/p>\n

After conducting extensive research of our own, my husband and I discovered a clinical trial<\/a> at UT MD Anderson led by Dr. Ann Gillenwater<\/a>. I didn\u2019t qualify to join that one, but I did qualify for another one led by Dr. Amit. His study was exploring whether immunotherapy injections applied directly to the target sites could control or shrink high-risk precancerous<\/a> lesions in the oral cavity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The clinical trial was available only at UT MD Anderson<\/a>. So, when I learned that I was eligible to join it, it felt like hope after years of fear. I called immediately to make an appointment.<\/p>\n

My first impression of Dr. Amit was how down-to-earth he was. I thought he might be stiff and formal, considering his level of expertise. But he wasn\u2019t that way at all. He makes well-timed jokes, laughs easily and knows how to ease the tension in a room. That lightness never detracts from his intelligence, though. I understood immediately that I was dealing with someone exceptionally smart and highly skilled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Amit was also very reassuring. He was clear that the standard of care for someone in my situation would normally be surgery. But he understood my desire to preserve my tongue for as long as possible. So, he didn\u2019t make any promises he couldn\u2019t keep. I really respected that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want a third oral surgery<\/p>\n

Both of my previous oral cancers had been caught very early. So, I was lucky in that only relatively small portions of my tongue had to be removed. Even so, trying to speak or eat during those first few months after each surgery was really painful.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My tongue had to be stitched to the floor of my mouth during the second procedure. Figuring out how to speak again after that was very difficult. I just couldn\u2019t make certain sounds anymore by touching the roof of my mouth with my tongue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My kids were so young then that they didn\u2019t understand why I suddenly couldn\u2019t read aloud to them. They also couldn\u2019t grasp why I wouldn\u2019t share their meals \u2014 because I was living on smoothies<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t even take them to the pool or the park, because I couldn\u2019t speak loudly enough to get their attention if they started doing something dangerous. Those limitations were extremely frustrating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, it took several conversations with Dr. Amit for me to feel fully comfortable with the clinical trial. I was worried that I might be assigned to the control group, which wouldn\u2019t receive the medication. The turning point came when Dr. Amit said, very clearly, that if he ever felt I was at risk, he would take me off the trial immediately and put me on the appropriate treatment. That\u2019s when I realized that while his research was important, my safety came first. And that made me trust him from the very beginning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Side effect of clinical trial: elation<\/p>\n

I had two precancerous lesions this time: one on the floor of my mouth and the other on my tongue. Dr. Amit could only treat one of them as part of the clinical trial. He chose the tongue lesion because it was worse.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I received an injection of nivolumab in my tongue every three weeks for three months, for a total of four cycles. Three months after the final treatment, a biopsy showed the precancerous cells in my tongue were gone. The treatment had worked! I wouldn\u2019t need another surgery. I was elated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helping others face the future with hope<\/p>\n

Today, my only remaining challenge is the lesion on the floor of my mouth. It\u2019s improved a little. But it hasn\u2019t gone away completely. A recent biopsy showed the remaining cells are still severely\u00a0dysplastic,<\/a> which is\u00a0worrisome.\u00a0But\u00a0Dr. Amit believes this experimental\u00a0therapy\u00a0may still be\u00a0working\u00a0and\u00a0having\u00a0an effect on nearby structures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even so, unless it gets approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), I might not be able to get it again if I need it. That means if additional injections turn out to be the best option for the lesion on the floor of my mouth, I\u2019ll have to drop out of the clinical trial so I can apply for a compassionate use exemption, which may or may not be granted. I really don\u2019t want to do that. Dr. Amit\u2019s study already has so few participants; I don\u2019t want to do anything that might jeopardize his research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I truly believe that Dr. Amit\u2019s research could change the standard of care for oral cancer. So, I want to do whatever I can to reduce suffering, preserve quality of life, and help families just like mine to face the future with hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m hosting a charity golf tournament on June 26, 2026, at the Latrobe Country Club near my home in Pennsylvania. Every dollar raised will go directly to UT MD Anderson to support Dr. Amit\u2019s lab. Because the research he\u2019s doing is not just improving my life. I know it can help other patients and families, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moran Amit, M.D., Ph.D., will present the findings from the clinical trial Jessica is on at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting<\/a> on April 21, 2026.<\/p>\n

Request an appointment at\u00a0UT MD Anderson\u00a0online<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0call 1-877-632-6789.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sometimes, the most meaningful breakthroughs in medicine aren\u2019t about saving your life \u2014 they\u2019re about saving your quality…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1145,1147,1142,95553,56,58,57,26375,95555,1148,9244,2822,95554],"class_list":{"0":"post-252789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-caregivers","9":"tag-clinical-trials","10":"tag-family-friends","11":"tag-head-and-neck","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-news","15":"tag-immunotherapy","16":"tag-oral-cancer","17":"tag-patients","18":"tag-philanthropy","19":"tag-survivors","20":"tag-tongue-cancer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}