A 33-year-old father has to relearn how to speak and feed himself after having his tongue removed due to a rare genetic condition that resurfaced 20 years after his last treatment.
Suffering from Fanconi anemia, the same that killed his brother, Jonathan Massé thought he was out of the woods when he underwent a bone marrow transplant and several radiotherapy and chemotherapy sessions at the age of 10.
Jeremy Bernier
Jonathan Massé, 33, will never be able to eat and speak as before after having his tongue removed due to cancer. We see him here with his wife Maude Michaud and her children, Lyvia and Jacob.
But, twenty years later, the hereditary disorder which notably increases the risk of cancer of the oral cavity by preventing the production of red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets has come back to haunt him.
“We realized it when he cut his tongue with a crisp. It made a crack that never healed and bumps started to appear. It was cancer of the tongue,” explains his spouse, Maude Michaud.
never like before
Last September, doctors attempted a first operation to remove 75 lymph nodes and 90% of his tongue, which was replaced by tissue from his right thigh.
A recurrence of the disease finally forced specialists to replace his entire tongue and remove two teeth, half of the thyroid gland and part of the gum, barely five months later.
“We do not yet know what to expect for the future, he does not speak yet. But it will never be like before. And he will have to mourn solid food”, sighs Mme Michaud, who lives in Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey.
For the moment, the 33-year-old man feeds himself through a gastrostomy and expresses himself through a board and a marker that he keeps with him.
Jeremy Bernier
Jonathan Massé must for the moment express himself with a board and a marker.
Keep morale
The risk of recurrence of this type of disease remains high, however, despite all the operations that the young father had to undergo.
However, the latter keeps his spirits up through the trials because he considers that “the hardest part is behind him”.
“All he wants is to live, for our children. It’s not easy, but he keeps his head up for them,” said Maude Michaud.
Jeremy Bernier
Jonathan Massé, 33, will never be able to eat and speak as before after having his tongue removed due to cancer. We see him here with his daughter Laurence, some time before he was diagnosed with cancer.
A fundraising campaign has also been launched on the GoFundMe platform to help them weather the storm.
It is that due to an eye disorder, Mr.me Michaud has not been able to work since last August, waiting for an eye transplant. And as Mr. Massé’s 15 weeks of sickness benefits ended during Christmas week, the couple therefore find themselves without income.
“Fortunately, we have a family that supports us enormously, but we have to tighten our belts,” explains the mother of the family.