Here at SurvivorNet, we love to tell the stories of survivors, and the survivor in this story is Rupert Boneham. He is known as one of the most beloved contestants on the show Survivor, and he is also a cancer survivor.
Boneham, 57, was diagnosed with throat cancer, specifically cancer of the vocal cords. (When he was diagnosed and what stage his cancer was has not been shared publicly.)
"For a while, I was really terrified that I wouldn't be able to talk anymore," Boneham recently told CBS4 News in Indianapolis, Ind. his hometown. He tells the television station that what drove him to seek medical attention was "my throat was getting so bad I could barely talk," he says. "I had resigned myself never to be able to roar … the guy who could talk and you know, be rough." But now, the Survivor contestant can add cancer survivor to his list of achievements. He tells the news station that after two successful surgeries the latest one just a few days ago he has regained his ability to roar, just like he always did on the show, which is what made him so famous.
"Having my mortality shown to me, and smacked in the face with it, shows me I don't have an unlimited amount of time," he says. "I used to believe I'm going to be here forever! I am honestly thankful that I have a voice."
What Causes Throat Cancer?
It is much more common to know someone who has throat cancer now than it was several decades ago. That is because of the strong connection between throat cancer and the human papillomavirus, or HPV the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States.
Majority of Throat Cancer Diagnoses Are Caused by HPV Here's What You Need to Know
While it remains unknown what caused Rupert Boneham's throat cancer, HPV may cause more than 90% of throat cancers.
"From the 1980s to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent," Dr. Ted Teknos, a head and neck cancer specialist, and president and scientific director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, tells SurvivorNet.
The vast majority of humans in the United States both men and women will eventually get infected with HPV, according to Dr. Allen Ho, a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai.
"The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing," he tells SurvivorNet. "Probably less than 1 percent of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years it develops from a viral infection into a tumor, and a cancer."
HPV and Cancer Risk: The Basics
It is unclear whether HPV alone is enough to trigger the changes in your cells that lead to throat cancer or whether this happens in combination with other risk factors like smoking. Of course, some people who develop throat cancer have no known risk factors for the condition. Genetics can play a role in this cancer, too.
Rupert Boneham's Surgery: The Options
Throat cancer is often treated with surgery, and one of the first questions your doctor will be asking themselves once they deliver a throat cancer diagnosis is whether you can have surgery.
In early-stage throat cancer, surgery alone, or sometimes even just radiation alone, is enough to treat the cancer, Dr. Jessica Geiger, a medical oncologist at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, tells SurvivorNet. But, in more advanced throat cancer cases, which is actually the most common stage doctors see, treatment efforts would be focused on palliative therapy controlling the disease but, unfortunately, not curing it.
For a patient with throat cancer that is locally advanced, meaning the tumor is very large and possibly has spread into the lymph nodes of the neck, there are three modalities of therapy that doctors can use to cure those patients of their cancer: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, Dr. Geiger says.
“Oftentimes, we have to use two or sometimes all three of those modalities of treatment to get the job done,” she adds. (It remains unclear if Boneham received, or will receive, additional treatment after his surgeries.)
Once (and if) the cancer is removed, reconstructive surgery might be performed to help make the changed areas look and work better.
Here is a rundown of throat cancer surgery options, according to the American Cancer Society:
- Endoscopic surgery: This is when an endoscope (long thin tube with a light and camera on the end of it) is passed down your throat to find the tumor. Using the camera, the doctor can see the tumor and pass long surgical instruments through the endoscope to find, biopsy and treat some early-stage cancers of the larynx.
- Laryngectomy: This procedure is the removal of part or all of the larynx (voice box). It involves making an incision on the outside of the neck over the area of the Adam's apple.
- Total or partial pharyngectomy: This surgery is done to remove all or part of the throat. If you have this surgery, you may need reconstructive surgery afterwards to rebuild this part of the throat and improve your ability to swallow.
- Neck dissection: If your doctor thinks that your cancer has spread to your lymph nodes (and other nearby tissues), they may be removed from your neck. This operation is often done at the same time as the surgery to remove the main tumor.
- Thyroidectomy: This surgery is performed if the cancer has spread beyond your lymph nodes to your thyroid gland; this operation removes all or part of the gland.
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