CNN
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“Prime Chef” alum Shirley Chung has gone public together with her most cancers prognosis.
Sharing a video on social media by which her hair is getting shaved, Chung wrote that she had some “private information.”
“Since final yr December, I had a collection of dental points, I bit my tongue severely; I fractured my tooth and needed to extract it and get an implant… we thought it was as a result of I’m a heavy enamel grinder,” she wrote.
The “Prime Chef” Season 11 finalist and Season 14 competitor stated she was initially “too busy to see a EMT specialist” however later developed ulcers in her mouth and “a hidden tumor” below her tongue.
“Just a few days later, I used to be identified, stage 4 tongue most cancers, as most cancers cells additionally unfold into my lymph nodes,” Chung, 47, wrote. “I used to be very calm when medical doctors delivered the information, as a chef, I’ve at all times thrive below stress.”
Her therapy choices, she wrote, had been surgical removing of her tongue or therapy just like a “unicorn case” of one other chef who obtained radiation and chemotherapy on the College of Chicago.
Whereas it meant relocating for therapy, Chung stated she determined to strive it.
“Larger survival price, or maintain my tongue?” she wrote. “I selected to maintain my tongue, I’m a fighter, I’m a chef, I might be that unicorn too.”
Chung stated she’s already accomplished six weeks of chemo with extra to go. She ended her publish on a hopeful notice.
“Your love and help will carry me by way of,” she wrote. “Cheer me on, Shirley Chung 2.0 might be reborn in 2025!”
In response to the American Cancer Society, greater than 58,000 new circumstances of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers are identified in the USA every year. About 20% of the circumstances happen in individuals youthful than 55.
Acclaimed chef Grant Achatz spoke with NPR in a 2011 interview about his personal expertise with stage 4 tongue most cancers and present process therapy on the College of Chicago.
Although it’s not recognized if he’s the affected person Chung known as a “unicorn case” in her publish, Achatz’s most cancers went into remission and he ultimately regained his sense of style.