Doctors told me my earache was just an infection: It turned out to be cancer and now I want to warn everyone about the little-known signs

Looking at him now, it’s hard to imagine what Harvey Deaton went through. He is fit and healthy and enjoys spending his time between Britain and his holiday home in Spain.

He’s lucky to be doing all this. For months, Harvey was told that repeated attacks of pain in his left ear were the result of an infection. In fact, it was a sign of advanced tongue cancer.

Harvey had been going back and forth to his doctor for help with the earache. But despite trying antibiotics and ear syringes, he was still having problems six months later.

During a routine dental appointment, his dentist noticed a “red spot” in his mouth that wasn’t healing, he recalls.

The dentist advised Harvey to see a head and neck specialist. And within minutes, they diagnosed the true cause of his earache and the ulcer in his mouth: tongue cancer, classified as a type of head and neck cancer.

Harvey, 59, a former BT manager who lives in Kippax, Leeds, said: ‘They told me earache was a classic sign of head and neck cancer, but I had no idea this could be so.

‘It was noticed in the nick of time. I’m lucky to be here.’

By the time he was diagnosed, Harvey, who is married to Helena, 56, had stage 4 cancer that had spread under his tongue to one of his lymph nodes.

According to Cancer Research UK, around 12,800 people in Britain are diagnosed with head and neck cancer every year.

But the number of cases has been rising – one report says by as much as 47 per cent every year – and the ‘massive increase’ is expected to continue, says Dr Oladejo Olaleye, an ear, nose and throat surgeon at Leicester Cancer Research Center and ambassador for the Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK charity.

Head and neck cancers are cancers that affect the throat, larynx, nose, sinuses, tongue, tonsils, gums, lips, jawbone, cheekbone, cheek, neck lumps, salivary glands and the thyroid area.

While most cases occur among people in their mid-to-late 60s, the numbers are also rising “alarmingly” among younger men and women, says Dr. Olaleye.

The recent increase in head and neck cancers has been attributed to infection with high-risk strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common virus previously linked to cancers of the tonsils and base of the tongue. (Other strains of HPV have also been linked to cervical cancer.)

These cases are now more common in younger men, who may only have a lump in their neck or a persistent sore throat.

However, while some strains of HPV are sexually transmitted, the strains linked to head and neck cancer do not require sexual activity. They can spread through skin-to-skin contact, meaning anyone could be at risk, Dr. Olaleye explains.

‘Although HPV vaccination has been introduced [for teenage girls in 2008, but also for boys in 2019] and is expected to reduce the number of cases of head and neck cancer, the full impact will not be seen for decades as these cancers tend to develop later in life,” he adds.

However, there are other risk factors for head and neck cancer, including smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.

Symptoms of head and neck cancer may include a persistent sore throat (or other type of pain in the throat or mouth), a lump or swelling in the neck, a lump or ulcer on the lip or in the mouth that does not heals, changes in voice or hoarseness, painful swallowing or difficulty swallowing, and earache or earache.

“Ear pain can be a sign of certain head and neck cancers, especially those that affect the throat or base of the tongue, due to shared nerve pathways,” says Dr. Olaleye.

‘Ear pain is usually caused by other conditions such as infections or temporomandibular joint disorders, but if unexplained ear pain has persisted for three weeks or more, this should be thoroughly investigated.’

He emphasizes that it is also vital for anyone who has symptoms including unusual lumps on the tongue; whitish or red spots on the tongue/cheek; non-healing ulcers; and sore throat that lasts longer than three weeks, to visit the doctor or dentist.

Survival rates for head and neck cancer are generally lower than for some other cancers, such as breast cancer, says Dr. Olaleye, in part because the anatomy of the head can make surgical removal of such cancers difficult.

While approximately 70-90 percent of patients with lip cancer, which is easily visible and accessible, will live five years or more, only 40 percent of patients with more inaccessible cancers – which develop in the lower throat behind the larynx , for example, live five years or more. By comparison, the overall survival rate for breast cancer is about 90 percent.

Harvey’s ear pain started in August 2022 and when his pain did not improve in October despite painkillers, antibiotics and ear syringes, he returned to his GP.

This time he was given a nasal balloon device to try out – the idea was that exhaling through your nose to fill the balloon with air helps equalize the pressure in the ears. This didn’t work either.

In November 2022, Harvey burned his mouth with hot soup, but the wound would not heal.

By now he was seriously alarmed. In January 2023, he insisted that his GP refer him to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

He underwent tests on his hearing, as well as examinations in which a camera was inserted at the end of a long, thin tube to check for abnormalities in his throat and Eustachian tube (which connects his middle ears to the back of his throat). But these all came back clearly.

In April, during his stay in Spain, he had had a coincidental dental check-up and reported the burn in his mouth that had not healed.

The Spanish dentist examined it carefully, seemed concerned and said there was an infection at the base of his tongue. She asked Harvey to come back three weeks later so she could re-examine the red spot – and this time she found it was even more inflamed.

Harvey also mentioned his earache, and the dentist advised him to quickly make an appointment with a private maxillofacial consultant – who he saw on his return to Britain.

After examining Harvey’s tongue and listening to his symptoms, the doctor simply said, “I know what this is.” It’s cancer. I will put you back on the NHS as it will be expensive to cure this,” Harvey recalled.

He was ‘astounded’ that his symptoms could be diagnosed by an expert ‘within seconds’ after being ‘fobbed off for months’.

Symptoms of head and neck cancer may include a persistent sore throat, a lump or swelling in the neck, and a lump or ulcer on the lip or in the mouth that does not heal.

The cancer was under his tongue. However, a phenomenon known as ‘referred pain’ meant that the pain could also be felt in his ear. This is thought to be because the mouth and ear share common nerve pathways, allowing pain signals from one area to be felt in another.

The diagnosis was confirmed by a scan and a biopsy. It also showed that his cancer was caused by a strain of HPV.

Harvey underwent 35 radiation treatments to his head and neck and three doses of chemotherapy over a grueling seven weeks.

Five teeth had to be removed to reduce the risk of dental complications later in life, and a tube was placed in his stomach for feeding.

“I couldn’t have surgery because the tumor was 4cm wide and in a difficult spot under the base of my tongue to operate on,” says Harvey.

‘The treatment I received was cruel because the effect was cumulative and the pain in my mouth and throat was so intense. I was given liquid morphine, which caused constipation, and I was tube-fed during treatment and for the next four weeks.

‘It was very difficult for me and for Helena to see me go through it.’

Harvey went from 13 pounds to 12 pounds (he is 6 feet tall) during the three months of treatment.

Dr. Olaleye says that while better diagnosis rates are urgently needed, “it’s not just about survival.”

‘It’s also about the quality of life. “Many patients who survive head and neck cancer have a very challenging life after treatment if the diagnosis is made late and the cancer has spread due to respiratory problems and often complex reconstructions.”

For some, extensive surgery may involve removing their tongue and/or voice box, he says.

A year after his treatment ended, Harvey is cancer-free but continues to be monitored by his consultant. He volunteers for the charity Oracle Head & Neck Cancer UK, because he wants to ‘give something back’.

He tells his story to, among other things, increase awareness of the signals you should pay attention to.

‘I now know that ear pain is a classic sign of head and neck cancer. But my GP and ENT specialist that I saw never mentioned this. That meant my cancer could progress to stage 4,” says Harvey.

However, he remains grateful that his cancer was contracted.

‘I’m so lucky to be here. I share my story so that other people know what signals to look out for.’