00:00I was diagnosed with tongue cancer, hedonectomous cell tritonoma.
00:05At the time I had no risk factors so it was a complete shock to me when I was diagnosed.
00:13It felt like everything in my life was going to change if the treatment was even successful.
00:19It was a massive adjustment to learn how to speak again without a tongue
00:26and I had quite a severe impediment.
00:31So when I started speaking to people they would often look at me in panic or nervousness
00:39while many people were understanding and patient.
00:43Many people also started avoiding conversations with me
00:47or making up what I had said in their heads and not asking me to clarify myself.
00:54So it was isolating and frustrating.
00:58Dr Imogen Brooks, who is an assistant medical writer and who lives in Newham,
01:03was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, the most common type of head and neck cancer,
01:08when she was 26 years old.
01:10Experts from Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust
01:14spent months working on a custom made prosthetic tongue.
01:18It was designed for her to create the maximum number of sounds.
01:22Yeah, it was really challenging.
01:26I often sort of came home from social events and was really upset.
01:31But especially in the workplace when I was trying to pass on and put in information to students
01:38or I was trying to network, it was really impacting my ability to engage with my work.
01:45Yeah, so I was very conscious of how my anatomy was changing, especially after radiotherapy.
01:54And I became increasingly aware that the sounds that I wanted to make were not happening
02:01because I was not able to touch the top of my mouth with the bottom of my mouth.
02:07I then began looking online for solutions.
02:11I looked through research databases and at papers about prosthesis.
02:17I found some which has not really shown any benefit
02:22and I have found some which shows some who are a lot of benefits
02:26and I felt like there was a chance that they might benefit me.
02:30At first, it was very strange to be able to become, like, comfortable with.
02:35There hasn't been anything inside my mouth for a year, so it was a strange feeling.
02:42But within three days, I realised that I wanted to wear it,
02:47that it was easier for me to speak with it.
02:50And over the first couple of weeks that I had it,
02:53I immediately began noticing people were understanding me better.
