Hi all!

My name is Brittany Zedaker and I was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer in February 2025. After months of being misdiagnosed, I finally found an ENT that truly saved my life. I had 70% of my tongue removed, all my lymph nodes, feeding tube placed, a tongue ‘flap’ made from tissue from my back, and a tracheostomy in March 2025. I went through 33 rounds of radiation and 6 of chemotherapy and finished in June of 2025. I have been fighting for my life since then.

I am in therapy for speech and swallowing as I have to relearn how to do these things. My tongue no longer works so swallowing and speaking have taken a hit and forced me to be let go from my jobs (America!) and have a full time job now of trying to keep myself and my husband fed and housed without income and mounting medical bills. This blog is finally happening as I was just focusing on not dying all of 2025 to be able to log what I was going through. At this time I am NED (No Evidence of Disease) and we’re hoping to keep it that way!

I currently live in Indianapolis, Indiana and have all my treatment at IU Health and Schwarz Cancer Center. I live with my UH-MAZING husband, Mason, and our one eyed kitty cat, Opal. When not at the hospital, we are on a murder mystery dinner theater cast. I also used to have my own burlesque show in San Diego, CA and hope to get back to dancing someday when my guts aren’t hanging out in a tube and I don’t weigh 99 pounds. Thanks cancer!

This blog will go over all of my experiences and struggles of just trying to survive. I hope you’ll follow along.

XOXO, Brittany

You can donate to our GoFundMe here (help us, we’re poor!):
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-brittanys-battle-with-cancer

You can read my IU Health feature here:
https://iuhealth.org/thrive/sudden-symptoms-to-survivorship-brittany-zedakers-head-and-neck-cancer-journey-isr