Mum with cancer defies the odds and speaks again after having 90% of her tongue removed

A mum who had the majority of her tongue removed as she fought an aggressive cancer defied doctors by learning to talk again.

Gemma Weeks, 37, had problems with her tongue for six years after a small white patch appeared.

It eventually developed into a small hole which was so painful she took herself to A&E and was told she had stage four mouth and neck cancer.

She was rushed to surgery and was told because of the cancer's aggressive nature 90% of the tongue would be removed and she might never be able to speak again.

But she defied doctors when she managed to say "hello" to her fiancé and daughter when they came to visit a few days after the surgery.

Gemma had pain in her neck for six years before the diagnosis (Gemma Weeks / SWNS)

She said: “I was terrified at the thought of never being able to speak again, and also to never be able to eat and drink with my mouth but at the end of the day it was a small price to pay to be alive.

"I would rather see my daughter growing up and not miss all her special moments.

"Initially, after the operation, I wasn't able to talk at all and doctors thought it would stay that way.

"The first word I said was hello when my fiance and daughter came to visit me a few days after surgery.

"It didn't sound at all like me, but it was progress, which I've been working on ever since, and now people can actually understand me, mostly."

Gemma Weeks with her fiancé Philip Miller (Gemma Weeks / SWNS)

Scarring on Gemma's arm from where the skin graft was taken from (Gemma Weeks / SWNS)

Surgeons removed 90% of Gemma's tongue on March 6 at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, with skin grafts taken from her arm to help rebuild it.

They also removed all the glands in Gemma's neck.

She added: "The surgeons were brilliant, they worked miracles on me by rebuilding the left side of my mouth, and my tongue with grafts from my arm.

"They used a vein, a nerve and lots of flesh from my left arm."

Gemma has been able to regain speech (Gemma Weeks / SWNS)

The result of the operation in her mouth (Gemma Weeks / SWNS)

"I can mostly talk normally now but I struggle with a lot of words, especially if they have c or s in them and I don't sound like I used to. My new tongue is connected to the left side of my mouth so it's extremely difficult.

Gemma now faces six weeks to radiotherapy and chemotherapy starting this month but has been supported throughout by her family, friends and fiance Phillip Miller, 38.

Pal Claire Shafer has started a fundraising page that has already raised over £1,100 to help Gemma as she is currently unable to return to her job as a care assistant.

She added: "I wouldn't have been able to get through what I have without the people I have around me.

"People have been so kind.”