Sarah was initially misdiagnosed (Image: Supplied)
Sarah Susak, 48, from Melbourne, Australia, was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2017 after she felt a ‘funny’ sensation while kissing her husband, Halan. She was told that a substantial portion of her head would be removed.
She remembered: “When I was told they were going to do open face surgery to remove the tumour, I was told I would lose my eye and my hearing.
“I gave them permission to do whatever they needed to save me. I came out with missing teeth as they took half my palate. They used the skin from my leg to build my new palate – I can feel the leg hairs still growing inside my mouth.
“They used my fibula in my leg to rebuild my jaw and veins from my feet to connect muscles. It was amazing how many different parts of my body they used to rebuild my face.”
In 2017, Sarah noticed her sole warning sign of head cancer – a sharp, shocking sensation when kissed by her husband, Halan. Strange tinglings led her to consult a medical professional after coping for a week, reports the Mirror.
Initially misdiagnosed with neuralgia; a painful condition caused by nerve pressure, her condition did not get better. Further examination by an ear, nose, and throat expert revealed a sizeable mass within her facial structure.
Sarah said: “I opened my mouth and, immediately, he could see the tumour. I can’t believe I never noticed it or even felt it.”
Sarah felt a shock when she kissed her husband (Image: Supplied)
After a biopsy, Sarah was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma – a rare and aggressive type of head and neck cancer that often grows insidiously and poses treatment difficulties due to its tendency to infiltrate nerves.
She was informed that there was a high chance the cancer would metastasise to other parts of her body post-treatment, indicating a prognosis that could extend her life but not cure her. A year and a half earlier, Sarah and Halan had celebrated the birth of their miracle daughter, Stella, after enduring eight challenging rounds of IVF.
Rejecting the bleak forecast for her health, Sarah still admitted to debilitating anxiety, plagued by worries that her young daughter may face life without her mother’s presence. With an interest in holistic health, she sought advice from a wellness guru she followed on Instagram to help manage her anxiety.
This wellness guru also connected Sarah with medical professionals in India who suggested an operation to excise the tumour – guidance she acted upon. The surgery, which aimed to resect the tumour, spanned a marathon 19 hours and was followed by several months of radiotherapy.
Sadly, this led to osteoradionecrosis – a devastating side effect causing the bone in Sarah’s jaw to begin dying.
After a gruelling five-year battle with cancer, involving countless ICU stays and isolation from her loved ones, Sarah finally received the news that her cancer was in remission. Yet, seven years on, the disease cruelly resurfaced as a small lesion in her lung.
Following the surgical removal of the growth and assurance that no further radiotherapy was needed, Sarah hoped to move on with her life. But just a week post-operation, she was blindsided by an overwhelming numbness that took hold of her body.
Sarah with her daughter (Image: Supplied)
She recounted: “I couldn’t feel my fingers or my toes. Every surface I touched felt numb. I took myself to the emergency room, but the hospital dismissed me as having a panic attack.”
In the days that followed, Sarah’s condition worsened dramatically, and she struggled to have her symptoms taken seriously. It wasn’t until she lay in a hospital corridor, demanding attention from a surgeon, that her situation became dire.
“My eyes were rolling in the back of my head. My husband was in tears, and within four hours, I was completely paralysed from my neck down, I couldn’t breathe, so I had intubation, then a tracheotomy, and I was in ICU for many weeks.”
Sarah’s harrowing fight against Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disorder that attacks the nervous system, came as a shocking curveball to her and her loved ones. The enigmatic roots of GBS are commonly linked with previous infections, yet they continue to baffle scientists.
Sarah’s gruelling journey saw her plunge into a four-day coma, cling to life on ventilators, and her family fear the worst. Yet astonishingly, Sarah, with her indomitable will, woke from her coma, shattering predictions of an extended hospital stay by being discharged after mere two and a half months.
Her odyssey was far from finished; enduring another six months of rehab taught her the simple acts of walking and swallowing again. She has been vocal in her appreciation for the exceptional medical support she received.
Nonetheless, she attributes her dramatic recovery to embracing Vedic meditation, a time-honoured practice centred on mantra chanting. “Meditation enabled me to deal with the constant ups and downs that I had for all those years of my life after my initial surgery.”
Post-cancer, Sarah encountered numerous setbacks including facial pain, radio necrosis, infections, and crushing fatigue. In the midst of this turmoil, it was her devotion to meditation that provided a haven, cultivating an incredible ability to heal herself.
In addition to her role as a general manager, Sarah has launched her own initiative, Medi Steady Go, with the goal of sharing her expertise in soothing the nervous system. This venture is rooted in the Vedic meditation techniques that have profoundly changed her life.
Her remarkable health journey and an introduction to these transformative practices are detailed in her upcoming book, YOURU: Find the Guru within You, set for release next month. The cover showcases Sarah’s vibrant smile, a testament to her resilience and the power of her story.
“As an author, I thought, ‘How can I stand out on a bookshelf?'” she says. “So I thought, well… I’ll just smile.”
YOURU: Find the Guru within You is available to pre-order globally now via sarahsusak.com
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
