**By Angela Wormald
Little cancer battler Daniel Sewell has got his health problem licked.**
As adorable Daniel Sewell stares up at his loving mother Allison and says “Mum”, her eyes cloud with emotion. Gently, she kisses the top of his blonde head. It’s a memorable moment in any mum’s life when her child utters their first word, but for Allison the gift has come after years of stress and trauma. The family once feared Daniel may not survive, let alone talk.
Now aged four, Daniel was given a “new” tongue during pioneering surgery for mouth cancer at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle in the UK more than three years ago.
Surgeons took out three-quarters of tiny Daniel’s tongue and replaced it with muscle from his abdominal lining. And now, with his cancer in remission for three years, Daniel is a happy school kid who couldn’t be chattier.
Daniel’s father Richard had spotted his son’s badly swollen tongue when he was 13 months old and his quick action saved the boy’s life — early detection of oral cancer means a survival chance of 90 per cent.
“I was just as ignorant as anyone about mouth cancer,” says mum Allison. “I always thought it was something the older generation suffered from and believed it was linked with smoking…”
For the full story, see this week’s Woman’s Day (on sale January 12).
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