Even though it's a topic that many of us find difficult to talk about, cancer seems to be an oft-discussed subject in the media. And yet, despite its prevalence, there are still so many things we don't mention when we talk about the disease - the main one being the symptoms.

Depending on what type of cancer a person has, the symptoms can vary from anything as simple as increased fatigue to something as drastic as a lost limb; and even people who recover from the illness still end up with lifelong damage as a result.

One such person is Val Blunden, a 55-year-old woman from the UK who lost her bottom jaw after a battle with mouth cancer.

In 2016, Blunden had part of her jaw removed in a successful attempt to get rid of her cancer, but was left with other problems as a result. After undergoing the operation, the former postwoman was left with restricted speech abilities and could no longer eat without the use of a feeding tube.

She said that her battle with the disease had made her "a different person", and that her life was understandably shaken up by the change.

"I used to be quite outgoing," she explained. "I was a post lady before, I loved my job. I've had to pretty much stop everything."

However, doctors hadn't given up on Blunden's quality of life, and were willing to try out pioneering new techniques in order to reconstruct her jaw. Unfortunately, the first two tries failed - but, using a procedure called "distraction osteogenesis", surgeons were able to encourage bone regrowth in the damaged area.

In fact, in just three months, Blunden has seen 9cm (3.5 inches) of regrowth.

This unprecedented result is the first of its kind in the UK, and was previously considered so risky that it wasn't immediately given the go-ahead. In fact, Blunden's consultant surgeon, Dilip Srinivasan, had to convince the hospital to prioritize her surgery because it wasn't considered to be "a matter of life or death".

"From a patient's perspective you can't go out, you can't go out of your house. It is urgent. She is a cancer patient, she was treated for cancer," he said. "It doesn't matter what it was, what she is now is important, and what she is now is someone who is suffering. If medicine isn't about treating people who are suffering then what is it about?"

As part of the surgery, Blunden was fitted with a special frame - described as a sort of scaffolding - in order to support her jaw. This will have to stay in place for another month or so in order to allow the new bones to continue to grow and strengthen, but already she has seen improvements.

With any luck, once Blunden has recovered, she will be back to her old, outgoing self. Of course, her jaw will never return to what it once was, but - by the looks of the progress made in this case - we can hope that other patients with similar conditions will be able to receive successful treatments in the future.

Osteosarcoma, also known as bone cancer, is a rare kind of cancer to get, especially when it's found in the jaw. It's an obvious one to spot and starts with a painful swelling that eventually just sticks around and continues to be very painful to live with. That's how it was for Canadian Elizaveta Bulokhova, who noticed on a trip to Amsterdam with her boyfriend, Roman Troubetskoi, that the right side of her jaw was tender and swollen in May 2014. Fast forward a few months to July and the pain was getting unbearable, and the Latvian-born knew it was more than a toothache. After a few biopsies and CT scans, it was found that the then 24-year-old had this rare form of osteosarcoma. In devastating news, she was told that to survive, her jaw would have to be removed. It was difficult to hear, especially since Bulokhova had been working as a model for seven years, walking down runways all over the world and posing as a fashion model in a career that saw her living and traveling all over the world. The surgery would certainly make it harder for her to land the same jobs. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/6gDBRui3XX/?tagged=elizavetabulokhova]] But what was even more devastating of all was hearing that after the surgery she would be forced to terminate her unborn son due to the five rounds of chemotherapy she needed to go through. It was her first child, and she was already in her second trimester.

"He was very active and I would talk to him often while he was in my womb," she told Vice. "I had to tell him to stop moving because I couldn't keep him and then all of a sudden he did. He listened; he stopped moving."

Doctors at the University Health Network removed 95 per cent of her infected jaw in October that year. It was a 16-hour operation involving the removal of the tumour, then her jaw, and finally to reconstruct it using fibula, veins, nerves and skin grafts from her right left and right shoulder.

This followed with a number of follow-up operations to use a titanium plate and bone from the models' right leg to rebuild the jawbone, as well as nerves and skin tissue from her leg, arm, hip and shoulder to recreate her mouth and lips that could still move and feel.

Fortunately, complications from the surgery caused a delay in her chemo until 10 weeks before her son's due date. Just two days before the scheduled abortion, Bulokhova asked doctors if it would be possible to just deliver her son early.

"It was f**ked up," she recalled. "We basically had to tell the doctors to kill our perfectly healthy baby, but we had no choice. ... Then, with Valentin [her son] being nearly 28 weeks, we asked doctors where that put him. 'Is it safe to deliver him?' They said, 'Absolutely, let's do this.'"

Thankfully, it was. Troubetskoi was by the model's side during the whole thing, and while Valentin and his mother remained in hospital for a while to recover, they both came back home healthy.

Amazingly, just two months after her final cycle of chemo, Bulokhova posed for her first professional photos again. She worked with Toronto-based photographer Manolo Ceron, who was determined to highlight Bulokhova's strength and resilience.

Bulokhova's scars from the surgery and grafts are clearly visible, as are the sprouts of hair growing back after her chemo. She also posed with Valentin, who looks healthy and happy. The photos are beautiful.

She said the photoshoot with Ceron helped her feel better about her situation: "To do what I love the most, it made me so happy."

While the surgery likely signals the end of a professional career in modeling for Bulokhova, she seems unconcerned. For her, she managed to survive, as well as her baby, and she's perfectly happy to focus on family life for the time being.

A 20-year-old student who struggled to finish high school because of the severe bullying she received due to her appearance claims to have rediscovered her confidence after going under the knife. Lauren Whitt of Evergreen, Colorado underwent constructive surgery on her jaw after she was bullied intensely by other students who would call her a "witch" and "ugly."

Lauren's deformity led to her having an enlarged chin, meaning that she had difficulty eating and found it hard to breathe and speak. After transferring to another school in order to get away from her bullies, the abuse continued, leading to Lauren completing her education online.

It was recommended that she got surgery at the age of 12 to deal with the class three underbite and underdeveloped jaw. But, after delaying the treatment, her condition worsened within three years.

In order to get the deformity repaired, Lauren had both jaws broken and then put back together using 36 screws and bone grafted from her chin. Not only did the surgery reduce the size of the chin, Lauren can now breathe properly and her lisp has fully disappeared.

The criminal justice student said: "I could not live life like that any longer. It was making me miserable.

"I waited until I was an adult to get the surgery because I did not want to go through something so painful as a kid.

"I hadn't been able to bite into anything properly since I was a kid. I felt constant pain in my jaw every single day. 

"I had a lot of trouble breathing and it kept getting worse. It got to the point that I couldn't breathe without my mouth being open.

"My speech therapist told me that my lisp could not be fixed through speech therapy. I noticed shortly after the surgery that it was gone.

"I was brutally bullied for years because of the way I looked, so this is a major confidence booster."

Before undergoing the procedure, Lauren had to wear Invisalign for nearly a year so that her teeth would straighten out. However, due to the deformities in her jaw, the braces created more pain and suffering.

"Preparing for it was one of the most difficult parts.

"The Invisalign caused even more pain and made it nearly impossible for me to chew. I lost eight pounds and before the surgery, and I was already thin."

Because of the extent of Lauren's deformity, the surgery took nine hours when it should've taken four.

"My surgeon told me that my underbite was the most severe he had ever seen.

"He said that this was one of the most complicated surgeries of his career."

Lauren's recovery was hugely complicated, with the bone graft failing and causing infection, leading to further surgery. Another bone also cracked, leading to a third procedure. Then, most recently, a tooth died and she had to have her gums cut open so the tooth could be repaired from the inside.

"I had a pretty rough recovery. I woke up swollen and miserable.

"Because of my complications, my recovery has been ten times worse than it should have."

Due to the fact she couldn't eat any solids, Ms Whitt's weight dropped to 113 pounds, which is 22 pounds less than her healthy weight. But, she can now eat by cutting her food into small bits and is starting to enjoy burgers and pizzas.

"It's going to be pretty cool when I'm finally able to eat a burger again without cutting it up."

Despite the complications, Lauren is glad she went ahead with the surgery.

"It's been my most awful and most rewarding experience so far.

"Anyone considering this surgery should do it because it can change your life."

Fair play to Lauren for going through the operation and transforming her life. There's no doubt her new appearance is a nice two fingers to all those bullies as well.

Khloe Kardashian has shared a health update on social media after having a tumor removed from her face.

Back in October, the 38-year-old reality TV star explained to fans that she underwent an immediate operation to get a tumor removed after noticing a stubborn "zit" on her face that didn't budge, as reported by People.

"You'll continue to see my bandages and when I'm allowed, you'll probably see a scar (and an indentation in my cheek from the tumor being removed) but until then I hope you enjoy how fabulous I'm making these face bandages look," she wrote at that time.

Over the weekend, the Kardashians star once again addressed her health issues after posting a selfie for fans where she is seen with a visible skin-colored bandaid on her jawline.

Check out her selfie below: 

Upon seeing her post - which was captioned "Happy Sunday" -  one fan commented: "And what the heck is on your cheek," to which Kardashian replied: "A bandage. I had a tumor removed from my face but I'm totally ok. Thank you for asking."

When another follower also asked about the bandage, the mother-of-two - who has 295 million followers on the social media platform added that the bandaid was actually "a scar strip".

"I had a tumor removed from my face a few months ago so I wear this for healing and the prevention of my scar getting worse. All is great and healing wonderfully," she explained.

Credit: Instagram Credit: Instagram

Kardashian - who also revealed she had a melanoma removed from her back at age 19 - has spoken about how "grateful" she is that the tumor was "caught early".

"I was lucky and all I have is a scar to tell a story with. Most people aren't as lucky as me and I am forever thankful and grateful," she added, as cited by People.

Her surgeon, Dr. Garth Fisher, also took to his Instagram to explain the surgical procedure and praised the Good American founder for allowing him to operate on her.

"Dear Khloe, @khloekardashian, you and your family have been dear to me for a very long time. I was so saddened that you required a procedure requiring removing of a dangerous and significant tumor from your face," he wrote alongside a re-post of her Instagram Stories from earlier in the day.

"I felt like I was operating on my own daughter," Fisher continued. "I was honored that you put your trust in my staff and me. I am tremendously relieved that we got it all out and you can now get past this.

"You’re beautiful and have a heart of gold. Now let’s get this scar to heal great and be mindful of too much sun exposure :)," he added.

Featured image credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy

Professional skateboarder Brooklinn Khoury has spoken out after trolls on social media criticized the results of her reconstructive facial surgery.

The 23-year-old skateboarder was left with serious life-changing injuries to her face after she was attacked by a pit bull while she was visiting family in Arizona back in November 2020.

The attack left Khoury without her top lip and with damage to her nose.

At the time, she wrote to her fans on Instagram: "This is the beginning of a long journey to recovery. I hate asking for anything but It would mean the world if you would pray for me. Please remember to hug someone you love today."

Fast forward to the last few weeks, and following her final surgery, Brooklinn has proudly been showing off the results of her reconstructive surgery on TikTok.

However, despite both Brooklinn and her doctors being flooded with praise from most people in the comments section, one person wrote that she felt like her surgeon "did her dirty" with regards to her nose.

"I still feel like the surgeons did her nose dirty, rough job," the comment read. "She's absolutely stunning though."

However, these comments did not sit well with the skateboarder.

Sharing a video directly responding to the comment, Khoury said captioned her post: "My surgeon did such a good job with this nose surgery. He had to recreate the tip and brace my nostrils because they would collapse. He did so so good."

In the video, she said: "I strongly disagree" - as she started showing images of her nose before and soon after the attack.

"I literally could not breathe. This nose hole was completely shut. I had no cartilage in the tip or under at all," she continued.

Brooklinn then showed off her new nose, saying: "I think it matches perfectly with my face."

And many of her fans agreed, with one person writing: "I agree I think you are healing beautifully after all the surgeries."

A second echoed this sentiment, adding: "Your doctor is amazing I hope he is putting this in medical books".

In an interview with PEOPLE, Brooklinn revealed that she was at her cousin's home when she went to pet their dog, an eight-year-old pitbull named Diesel. "I was like, 'You're such a good boy.' He literally sprung from a sitting position like onto my face," she told the outlet.

"I was standing, and he was sitting - he literally just sprung up. And he was literally, hanging - literally like arms, legs hanging off of my lip. And my first instinct was like, 'Oh my God, get on the ground with him, hold his head, go wherever he goes,'" she stated.

"Finally, I felt a release. And then, something flew and hit the wall," Brooklinn told the publication, adding that she eventually realized it was her lip on the floor.

Her first surgery to improve the appearance of her lip didn't happen until one year later, in November 2021. Her final surgery took place last month, with the skateboarder telling her fans: "The surgery yesterday went really well! My surgeon was able to accomplish what he planned to do."

Brooklinn, ignore the trolls! You look amazing and the doctors did a superb job!

Featured image credit: AFF / Alamy