When John Kuby, a 68-year-old snowboarder and mountain biker, was diagnosed with tongue cancer three years ago, he had no idea his body had been carrying a viral infection. He got this cancer-causing virus from a sexual partner, probably in his 20s, when he was his most sexually active.
The human papilloma virus (HPV) is transmitted sexually, and since the 60s, men and women have been having more sexual partners and more oral sex. The pill made it safer to have sex, and more sex meant more oral sex. Oral sex is not safe sex when it comes to HPV because the virus is hosted in the cavities of the mouth as well as the genital areas. Hence, we are now experiencing a proliferation of HPV cancers. Kuby is one of the many men of the boomer generation being hit with this.
It is almost common knowledge that HPV causes cervical cancer in women. That is why girls are vaccinated in Grade 6. What is not well known is that men also have the HPV virus in them. If it manifests as cancer, it is most often oropharyngeal (tongue or throat) cancer, usually in men Kuby’s age.
Now that the medical community is aware of the connection of HPV to tongue cancer, boys are also being vaccinated in Grade 6, before they become sexually active.
Most of us contract HPV viruses during sex, and usually our body’s natural defences take care of any infections within a year or two. But some of the infections lie dormant and manifest as cancers years later.
Of the HPV-caused cancers, cervical cancer comprises 35 per cent and oropharyngeal cancer 35 per cent. Anal, penal, vulvar and vaginal cancers make up 30 per cent of all HPV cancers. Vaccines prevent each of these, as well as the HPV-caused genital warts.
Children are now being vaccinated at school in Grade 6 before they become sexually active. Most schools started with vaccinating girls for protection against cervical cancer and now boys are vaccinated too, for oropharyngeal cancer.
There are still a cohort of boys between 16 and 26 who missed being vaccinated at school so that should be going to their local community health centre and asking for their shots.
Unfortunately, the older generations have also not had the vaccine. It was not available until 2006.
There is a now a dramatic increase in tongue and throat cancers, especially in men of the baby boomer generation. In the past these cancers were caused by smoking and heavy drinking but recently most oropharyngeal cancers are attributed to the sexually transmitted HPV.
As baby boomer Kuby shows in his cancer experience book — No Quit in Me: My wild ride with tongue cancer — this is an ugly, ugly cancer.
In the year he spent recovering from cancer and radiation/chemotherapy treatment, Kuby endured a steady barrage of challenges: from burns inside and outside his throat and the inability to swallow to sleep deprivation and fear. For a month he was not able to speak, and for five months was fed through a tube. He was exhausted, weak and gaunt. He survived all this, only to be left with memory loss, brain fog and depression.
Kuby’s sense of humour, openness to experience and appreciation for all the help from his caregivers, makes the story of his getting back to snowboarding and mountain biking an inspirational adventure.
He will read, talk about his adventures with tongue cancer and the need for vaccinations at the his “No Quit in Me” book launch.
Laughing Oyster Bookstore will host the book launch at the Courtenay library from 6:30 – 8 p.m on Tuesday, May 21. This is a free event but space is limited. For more information and to RSVP go to www.eventbrite.ca.
Visit the book’s website at www.noquitinme.ca
