Danielle takes on the challenge of cancer
3 min read 30 April 2025
A year ago, Danielle was like so many of us – busy juggling work, life and kids. With one minor difference.
For four years, she’d been in the care of an oral surgeon. She had some lesions on her tongue, discovered by her dentist during a routine visit. Although an initial biopsy was negative, the surgeon wanted to keep an eye on them.
So, when a strange soreness developed in Danielle’s tongue, she knew who to call. A second biopsy confirmed what she feared: cancer.
Danielle was rushed into surgery to remove the almost invisible tumour on her tongue. Expecting it to be a minor procedure.
But when she woke up, she knew immediately that it was anything but. Today, she lives with lifelong side effects – and with the fear that her cancer could still come back.
You can help accelerate Peter Mac research discover kinder, more effective treatments that can save and change the lives of people like Danielle.
Taking on the challenge of treatment
Danielle’s surgery was far from minor. The tumour was bigger than anyone expected – and so was the margin needed to safely and successfully remove it.
“When they took out the tumour, they ended up taking out the floor of my mouth, and the maximum amount of my tongue that they could. And you can’t grow your tongue back.” – Danielle
After the shock of surgery, the challenges multiplied.
During the surgery to remove almost half her tongue and the floor of her mouth, Danielle’s doctors discovered that the cancer had already migrated into her nerves.
Danielle’s cancer was aggressive, leaving her with a difficult decision to make.
Danielle had just 48 hours to decide ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to six weeks of painful, gruelling radiation therapy to improve her chances of overcoming her cancer.
“The radiation oncologist told me that the tumour migrating to my nerve cells was a sign of aggression. And that meant I had a 15–20% chance of the cancer coming back without radiation,” Danielle shares. “To me, that was too high a risk to take.”
Danielle immediately began intensive radiation treatments to give her the best possible chance of survival.
Every day for the next six weeks, she was bolted down to a table, enduring sessions of radiation that left her with burns inside her mouth and on her neck.
“While most people start to get better, I just kept getting worse,” – Danielle
Donate now to help research discover ways to treat and defeat cancer – for good.
You can support Danielle’s hope for cancer research
Dr Ruby (Yuchen) Bai is a specialist in head and neck cancer research at Peter Mac. She is hoping to change the lives of people like Danielle with her work.
Her promising research has the potential to ‘switch off’ the mechanism that drives cancers like Danielle’s to spread.
Dr Bai believes that by intervening and switching cells back from ‘spread’ to ‘growth’, we can restrict the cells to the one area.
“We can prevent metastasis, which is the major cause of death from head and neck cancer.” – Dr Bai
For Danielle, such an intervention would have been life-changing. The ‘tiny tumour’ in her tongue may have stayed tiny. It may not have spread to her nerves. And she may have never needed such intense treatments.
There’s no denying that cancer took a lot from Danielle. It took almost half of her tongue, left her with scars, impacted her speech and left her without sensation in areas of her body. Despite it all though, she still considers herself ‘lucky’:
“The impacts of head and neck cancer are very broad and very deep. A lot of people can't speak, and a lot of people lose eyes, their nose or parts of their face. I'm in the minority of head and neck patients in that I am – to the world – physically unmarred and can speak.” – Danielle
For Danielle, and every person facing a cancer diagnosis, cancer research is the way towards better, kinder and more effective treatments and cures. Ones without the lifelong side effects like those Danielle faces.
Donate now to discover new treatments
You can support Danielle’s hope for future cancer treatments
Though her treatment is complete, Danielle’s journey continues.
Today, there is no evidence of cancer in Danielle’s body. But she knows there’s still a chance that could change. That her cancer could come back.
She works tirelessly to rebuild her speech through therapy and improve her health with the help of a dietitian. And every three months, she faces the nerve-racking reality of follow-up checks, knowing the cancer could return.
“The radiation reduced my risk of cancer coming back by around two-thirds,” Danielle explains. “But if it did come back, I don’t exactly know what would happen. There’s only so much surgery they can do.”
Donate now to accelerate life-saving research
Danielle’s story is a powerful reminder of why research like that of Dr Bai is so vital in the effort to stop cancer.
But research like this doesn’t happen without support. It takes time, dedication, and funding.
By donating to cancer research now, you can help accelerate discoveries that could save lives and improve outcomes for the next person like Danielle.
“I just have to hope that research will discover kinder and easier treatments for all cancers soon, but especially for head and neck cancers. That would be fantastic,” says Danielle.
