Confidence Through Information

I am extremely grateful that Dr. Ezra Cohen introduced me to Holly Boykin, the Executive Director of the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance (HNCA). Dr. Ezra Cohen is an HNCA board member, as well as a board certified oncologist and an internationally renowned translational researcher.

The Head and Neck Cancer Alliance’s mission “is to advance prevention, detection, treatment and rehabilitation of oral, head and neck cancer through public awareness, research, advocacy and survivorship.”

After surviving stage IV HPV-related oral cancer, I knew that I wanted to pay it forward and give back to others who were diagnosed with my same cancer and searching for answers. I wish I would have known about HNCA when I was first diagnosed back in May 2014, as I spent countless hours searching for answers to questions I had regarding HPV-related tonsil cancer. My official diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma of the left tonsil. HNCA provided me with the answers I needed, while encouraging me to share my cancer story, positively impacting families and educating them about HPV-related oral cancer and oral cancer screenings.

I continue to receive overwhelming support from the Head and Neck Cancer Alliance (HNCA), and I am working diligently to give back. As such, I am co-chairing the patient education committee for HNCA, and hope to make life easier for those who have been diagnosed, as well as their families.  I work with many of the HNCA board members who are some of the most well respected in their fields. I am also committed to sharing information about the HPV vaccine, and encourage parents to speak with there kid’s pediatricians and/or family practice doctors regarding the positives and negatives. Every physician I have ever met, said that they would give the HPV vaccine to both their sons and daughters between the ages of nine and twenty six.