• 4/16/2007
  • Gloversville, NY
  • Richard Nilsen
  • The Leader-Herald (www.leaderherald.com)

Sharlee Ringer of Mayfield said she hopes by telling her story she may be able to help someone.

Ringer, a 35-year-old married mother of five who is active in the community, recently had part of her tongue removed and was having her tonsils removed today in an effort to stop the spread of the oral cancer she was diagnosed with Jan. 27.

“I had noticed a lesion on my tongue last April, but I thought it was just a cold sore,” Ringer said.

Ringer questioned if the cold sore was something more when it didn’t go away. But since she has never smoked or been exposed to other typical things that lead to oral cancer, she put off having the sore looked at.

“When I finally got an appointment to have it removed, I had to postpone due to a respiratory infection,” she said.

Each delay could worsen the condition, but at 35 and with no history of smoking, she didn’t imagine the problem could be cancer.

“When the doctor called me in to a conference room to discuss the lesion he had removed, I knew it was cancer,” she said.

The sore was found to be squamous cell carcinoma, the most common form of oral cancer.

Ringer said she wanted to tell her story in order to make others aware. April is National Cancer Control Month. She said she’d like to get the word out because it is difficult to get information about the disease and treatment options.

Once diagnosed, she tried to find out all she could about the type of cancer. For instance, 75 percent of oral cancers are tobacco related.

“I joined the Oral Cancer Foundation in the process of finding it was a relatively rare form of cancer, with 42,000 cases diagnosed per year,” she said. “Most of those who get it are smokers, drink alcohol excessively, are older and are male. I didn’t fit the profile.”

Ringer went to Dr. David Martin for surgery, and the biopsy showed they hadn’t gotten all the cancer because the margins of the piece taken out weren’t clear of cancer cells.

“The depth of invasion showed there was more cancer there,” Ringer said.

Ringer had a partial glossectomy, or tongue surgery and modified neck dissection, during which she lost 25 percent of her tongue and had 32 lymph nodes in her neck tested.

“I was in the first stage of cancer and the lymph nodes were clear,” she said. “I was lucky.”

Those who first meet Ringer wouldn’t notice a speech defect, she says, but she knows she has a slight lisp and the left side of her face has some droop.

“I have no saliva gland on the left side and eating is more difficult,” she said. “My hearing is a little off too.”

Although she is cancer-free now, she knows that could change. Ringer said the recurrence of oral cancer is high.

“It’s scary,” she said. “I ask myself, did I do the right thing [having surgery and not radiation]?”

Her doctor said Ringer is atypical both in having contracted oral cancer and in how she is fighting it.

“She is very proactive,” Martin said.

Martin is happy to see Ringer take the active stance she has in guiding her own treatment and in getting the word out to others about the disease.

“It’s important to catch it early,” Martin said. “Any mouth sores that don’t heal after two weeks, coughing blood, ear pain and lumps or pains in the neck or throat should be checked out.”

Ringer said she has had great support.

“My family, friends and the school have all been great,” she said. “If I can help one person by telling my story, then I know some good has come of this. People need to be aware of oral cancer, and if they have a sore, get it checked.”

Ringer is also philosophical about her condition.

“You play the cards you are dealt,” she said. “And you have to learn along the way.”

More information about oral cancer can be found at www.oralcancer.org.