Father's cold sore was actually aggressive skin cancer
that ate away at his face - forcing doctors to rebuild his jaw from his LEG
bone
A father's worst nightmare came true
after a cold sore turned out to be vicious skin cancer which ravaged his entire
jaw.
Peter Lisle, of Gin Gin in
Queensland, Australia, had to have part of his mouth removed and rebuilt using
bones from his leg and skin from his forehead.
The 46-year-old was first diagnosed
with squamous cell carcinoma, cancer found in cells of the upper layers of
skin, in July 2013.
But after an operation to remove the
bottom part of his lip and mouth, he believed his battle with the disease was
over.
However, in April 2015 a lump on his
face began growing and he was dealt the devastating news that the cancer had
returned and had spread from his lip to his jaw.
He was immediately rushed for
surgery and had three operations to remove the tumour, which included cutting
out part of his jaw and the inside of his mouth to stop the cancer spreading.
In a fourth 20-hour operation
doctors used part of his fibula (calf bone) to rebuild his jaw, along with skin
grafts from his leg and forehead to create a new mouth.
Now, he is able to eat and speak, but years of being ill,
miles from his family, and unable to work have left him depressed and with such
great debts he fears he may lose his home and his car In a 20-hour operation,
surgeons took bones from his fibula (calf bone) and created a new jaw, as well
as skin from his leg and forehead to re-create his inner mouth
Mr Lisle was first diagnosed with
squamous cell carcinoma on his lower lip at the Gladstone Hospital, Australia,
in July 2013.
He said: 'I just had a tiny cold
sore but a biopsy showed it was cancerous.'I was in shock. I was given pretty
much all the scenarios, best and worst case.'
Squamous cell carcinoma is an
uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells arising in the squamous cells, which
compose most of the skin’s upper layers (the epidermis).
They often look like scaly red
patches, open sores, raised growths with a dip in the center, or warts, and may
crust or bleed.
It is treatable if caught early, but
if left untreated for too long, can spread to other parts of the body.
Mr Lisle had half of his bottom lip
removed and a small part of his mouth across two operations.
He believed his ordeal was over, and
returned to family life with wife Katie and children Dylan, now 10 and
Taneesha, now eight. But in early 2015 he found a lump on
his mouth and immediately went to the doctor.
A biopsy was carried out, but he was
reassured the lump was not cancerous and he was put on medication.
Then, in April 2015 he had a wisdom
tooth taken out and instead of becoming smaller, the lump began to grow. He said: 'I went to the doctors to
make sure it was not what I thought it was. But it was. The cancer had come
back again.
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