A Shrewsbury mum, who says cancer left her with a voice ‘like Marge Simpson’, is urging people across the region to Stand Up To Cancer this autumn.
Loren Stokes, 48, has been chosen to launch the fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 in Shropshire after undergoing treatment for cancer in her neck three and a half years ago.
Loren said: “Basically, it had grown downwards and across from the salivary gland near my ear, and was protruding into my airway. If it had grown outwards it probably would have been spotted sooner. But on the third day, reality kicked in and Loren hit rock bottom, writing on bits of paper to ask the doctors to withdraw her feeding tube and let her die. She said:
But the hardest thing was coming to terms with the loss of her voice. Loren had to learn to speak using the TEP, which is permanently sited in her throat. She presses a valve to control the airflow, and this enables her to speak. However, in October 2020, a routine scan showed that Loren’s cancer had come back in her lungs. She has been told the tumours are inoperable, but they are slow-growing, so Loren is determined to live her life as normally as possible and do everything she can to share her experience with others. She is now being treated at Manchester’s Christie hospital, where she has scans every six months.