Gordon Mullen

In 2006, Gordon Mullen knew something wasn’t quite right in his mouth, yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Fortunately for him, during a routine check up, his dentist could.
“That year, I’d had an ulcer on my tongue during October and November," Gordon recalls.
"The first biopsy came back okay and the diagnosis was an allergy. But by the end of 2007 it hadn’t gone away and I needed to get a crown replaced, so I bit the bullet and went to the dentist.
"It turned out to be a real lifesaver.”
Gordon’s memories of that consultation are as vivid today as it was on the day of the appointment. “It’s the kind of thing you just don’t forget,” he said.
“What made it worse was I almost knew what was coming. I’d pieced the jigsaw together, I could see it on people’s faces, yet when I heard the words ‘you have cancer’, there was no way I could be prepared for it.”
During Gord...