Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Silent But Resilient: My Tongue Cancer Journey

Silent But Resilient: My Tongue Cancer Journey

Cassidy, Carmen

Paperback

Biographies GeneralHealth GeneralCancer

Publisher Price: $22.95

PREORDER - Expected ship date November 26, 2026

ISBN10: 1771619600
ISBN13: 9781771619608
Publisher: Mosaic Press
Published: Nov 26 2026
Pages: 225
Language: English
When Carmen Cassidy first noticed a small area of firmness on her tongue, cancer was the furthest possibility from her mind. A healthcare professional and nonsmoker, she assumed the irritation would resolve. Instead, months of appointments, conservative treatments, and persistent symptoms preceded a diagnosis of Stage IVa oral tongue cancer. Silent but Resilient follows Carmen from those first uncertain months through biopsy, diagnosis, major head and neck surgery, partial tongue removal and reconstruction, cervical lymph node dissection, chemotherapy, radiation, and the long process of learning to speak, swallow, eat, work, and live differently. Woven throughout the memoir are practical sidebars that place Carmen's experience in context, offering accessible information about oral cancer, the Two-Week Rule, diagnosis and treatment, self-advocacy, follow-up care, rehabilitation, and the lasting effects of treatment. Recovery did not mean becoming the person I was before cancer, Carmen writes. Recovery meant discovering who I could become because of it. The first time I looked in the mirror, I barely recognized the woman staring back at me. My tongue had been reconstructed, and the scars on my forearm and thigh were permanent reminders of what it had taken to save my life ... The simple act of eating, something I had always taken for granted, had become exhausting, frustrating, and, at times, heartbreaking. Speaking was even harder ... But beneath all those changes, one thing remained the same. I was still me. -- from the Prologue

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