The sky’s the limit for Lyndon

Picture: Lyndon Wallace in his awareness-raising tee shirt

A man who underwent gruelling treatment for tongue cancer is celebrating two years of recovery  -with a freefall parachute jump from 15,000 feet.

And Lyndon Wallace, of Harrogate, is so grateful to the York Hospital doctors and nurses who cared for him that he’s being sponsored to raise money for their work.

During several hours of surgery to remove his cancer, Lyndon’s tongue was rebuilt using tissue from his forearm, which was in turn repaired with a skin graft from his stomach.

He then needed three months of demanding speech therapy to learn how to talk properly again – crucial to his job as a consultant trainer and assessor with police forces up and down the country.

Life changed for Lyndon, 64, when he bit his tongue one day in 2017 and examined it in the mirror to find a 1cm raised grey-white patch under his tongue.

“Regrettably, I hadn’t been to the dentist for about two years, so when I found this I looked on the internet and straight away, I knew what it was,” he said.

His GP referred him urgently to hospital, but in the fortnight before his appointment he went on holiday with wife, Inna and stepdaughter Kristina. He chose not to tell them, to spare them the worry of the wait for his hospital appointment.

Once at hospital he was examined by a consultant, Mr Paul Whitfield, and tissue was taken immediately for biopsies. “I then went home and had to tell my wife, because I couldn’t speak properly. I think that was the hardest part of everything I went through,” he said.

“Then everything happened very quickly – the NHS is so amazing, everything just fell into place.” Lyndon attended a meeting with his entire care team of two surgeons, speech therapist, swallow and nutrition specialists, dentist and a Head and Neck Clinical Nurse Specialist, who explained in detail his treatment. They were very positive about the benefits of catching his cancer early with positive outcomes.

“It was a shock to find out exactly what they would need to do but they told me their aim was to cure me, not just control the cancer, because it had been caught early.”

The doctors said they hoped after surgery he would be mostly understood on the phone by people that knew him, but in fact his recovery has been so complete, working with his speech therapist, that his speech is just about perfect.

For the first year post-surgery, Lyndon had hospital check-ups every month, and now he has them every other month, as well as going to the dentist four times a year.

Lyndon feels incredibly lucky. “Everyone at York Hospital has been absolutely amazing,” he said. “When I go in there I am greeted like an old friend. I can’t thank them enough, particularly my care team and staff on wards 16 and G1.”

He now wants to raise awareness of mouth and tongue cancer with the message, ‘Mouth cancer sucks –  check it out!’

“Oral cancer is rare and finding it early is crucial,” he said. “Have regular dental check-ups to detect early signs of cancer, and any unusual white or red spots, lumps or blemishes, particularly if they have not gone in two weeks, anywhere in your mouth, check it out!”

Lyndon set himself a milepost of two years and August 23 will be the second anniversary of his big operation. He’s marking it with his parachute jump at Hibaldstow Skydive Centre in north Lincolnshire.

He’s paying for the skydive himself and wants sponsorship to raise money for York Against Cancer, with the cash earmarked to support the Head and Neck Cancer Unit at York Hospital.

To sponsor Lyndon visit his justgiving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Lyndon-Wallace