'Stand up to cancer for me': Shrewsbury mum living with tumour urges people to back campaign
A Shropshire mum who says cancer left her with a voice ‘like Marge Simpson’ has urged people across the region to Stand Up To Cancer.
Loren Stokes, from Shrewsbury, has been chosen to launch this year's fundraising campaign in Shropshire after undergoing treatment for cancer in her neck three and a half years ago.
The 48-year-old mum-of-one had her voicebox removed after major surgery to treat a tumour that had grown from her salivary glands and wrapped itself round the nerves and structures in her neck.
Hear Loren speak about her new voice and how she has bounced back to stand up to cancer:
She 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.
“They said it was a very slow growing tumour which had probably been there for years. That made sense, because as far back as Christmas 2015 I’d detected a change in my voice that I couldn’t explain.
“I saw the scans and it was one big tumour that had entwined itself in all the nerves and taken over my whole neck. Everything in my neck had to go in order to get rid of the cancer, including my larynx, or voicebox.”
Now, she has been chosen to launch the campaign by Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, by urging supporters to fundraise in their own way – at home, through work or at school.
Loren is a dental nurse and lives with her 17-year-old son Kieran; after her operation, she had to learn to speak again with a voice prosthesis by pressing a valve in her throat to control the airflow.
The hardest thing for her was coming to terms with the loss of her voice, she said, but is now proud to talk about her experience to show others that life is worth living after a laryngectomy.
“People are sometimes a bit freaked out by the voice. It is a rough, rasping sound – I call it my ‘Marge Simpson’ voice," Loren said.
"And sometimes people stare at the valve in my throat, even talking to my friends instead of me, as if I am invisible.
“I had to rebuild my social confidence gradually, because I wouldn’t go out of the house at first.
"But now I don’t let anything hold me back, I am back at work part-time, I socialise and exercise at the gym – I even gave a speech at my friend’s wedding in Oswestry."
Since being diagnosed, Loren has taken on Race for Life Pretty Muddy with her friends, completed a 100 mile sponsored walk for charity and starred in a photoshoot for the company that makes voice prostheses like hers.
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.
“My partner, Chris, who I met only two weeks before my operation, has been absolutely fantastic, as have my mum and stepdad, who came with me to every appointment," Loren said.
"My son Kieran has inspired me with his positive outlook on life, and I have taken a leaf from his book whenever I’ve felt low.
"And my work colleagues have bent over backwards to help me get back to work. Despite my illness, I feel lucky.
“But more than anything I feel thankful for the treatment that has helped me live to fight another day.
"It’s thanks to research that I’m still standing and have enjoyed many special moments with my loved ones.
"Cancer can affect anyone’s life, at any time, so we really have no choice other than to unite against it and help support the scientists to keep making new discoveries.”
Approximately 32,100 people are diagnosed with Cancer in the West Midlands every year.
Stand Up To Cancer helps to take breakthroughs from the lab and transform them into treatments that could help save the lives of more people.
“I wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for research into better and kinder treatments, that’s why I’m lending my heartfelt support to this vitally important campaign," Loren added.
"Every action big or small could help make a difference. So, I hope people in Shropshire will Stand Up To Cancer for me and everyone affected by this devastating disease.”
To fundraise or make a donation visit standuptocancer.org.uk.
