Head & Neck Cancer Support Network

Over the next few months we are profiling our committee, so that you know them a little better.  

The first cab of the rank is our Chair, Diana Ayling.

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The United States accounts for five percent of the world's population but consumes almost 70 percent of the total global opioid supply, creating an epidemic that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths each year. How did we get here, and what can we do about it? In this…

Readers, Val Ireland made an impassioned plea for help following a series of poor outcomes from head and neck cancer treatment/reconstruction in Auckland.

You can read Val’s story here. http://nzh.tw/11966945

I have decided to openly respond to Val to encourage open discussion about the current service, and the steps we, at the Network are taking now, and in the future to improve the performance of the…

There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. - William Shakespeare

These plastic surgery quotes were retrieved from New Zealand clinician sites on 4 December 2017.

“...it’s your face which people notice first. Your face projects an image to people about who you are.”

“Plastic Surgery: Empowering You With The Confidence To Succeed In Both Your Career &…

Kathryn is one of our regular contributors. Her husband Greg was treated for adenoid cystic carcinoma not long after the loss of their daughter to cancer. I asked her if she had wisdom to share on how to deal with the suffering that cancer causes us. Here are her words.

The top illustration is of their happy place, their farm just out of Whangarei, rolling country dotted with native bush. There's one of the Parnell Rose Gardens, one of Greg fixing his car with his youngest son…

Who is a Fellow? Why do some doctors and surgeons have the title "Fellow"? What does all this mean for patients?

In an otorhinolaryngology (ORL) ward you may meet a Fellow carrying out various treatment and care roles including the outpatients clinic.…

This weeks Guest Editor is the Network Chair, Diana Ayling, these are her Notes from Mill Island

Cancer. The very word is intimidating, and strange. What does it actually mean when they tell you, "you have life threatening cancer."? It means you are growing some mutant, and dangerous cells that intend to grow structures which will prevent vital aspects of your bodily functions to continue. So really,…

We published Greg's story some time ago. It has been a popular post and has now been updated with the latest news and a new photograph of Greg on his farm. This picture shows the side of his face on which the jaw was replaced.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a rarer form of head and neck cancer. Therefore, I hope people out there, searching for someone who has experienced the same thing,  will be interested to to read this account. It was written by Greg's…

Diana and I spoke at an International Patients Day event in Auckland yesterday in order to describe the patient's experience of the treatment. The makers of the machines, Varian, were there and we were celebrating American technology for the US consulate. I had radiation as adjuvant therapy only - to mop up lingering cells after surgery. It was a tough treatment but I didn't have chemo and only one side of my face received the rays. This explains the somewhat upbeat…

Virtually everyone reading this article, at some time in their lives, will acquire one of the many types of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Four out of five (80%) of us will acquire one of the 40 subtypes associated with genital infection. These genital HPV subtypes cause visible genital warts and genital cancers.  Fortunately, for most of us, our immune systems clear the genital HPV subtypes, without any obvious signs of infection. Some people need treatment for visible…