A young actress has revealed the astonishing story of how a tattoo from her arm ended up under her tongue after life-saving reconstructive surgery for cancer.
From painful ulcer to cancer diagnosis
Harriet Trewhitt, a 21-year-old acting student from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, first noticed a painful ulcer on the right side of her tongue. Initially, she believed it was caused by biting her tongue during an epileptic seizure, but when it persisted for three months, she sought medical help.
After a biopsy was organised, doctors delivered the shocking news: Harriet had stage two squamous cell carcinoma. The diagnosis came after a month-long wait for results, leaving her in a state of shock. "I started crying and rang my dad," she recalled of the moment she was told, alone in the consultant's room.
12-hour surgery and an unexpected tattoo transfer
Harriet underwent two major operations at University College London Hospital, totalling around 12 hours of surgery. Surgeons removed half of her tongue and then performed a complex reconstruction using skin and blood vessels taken from her forearm.
Unbeknownst to her at the time, the grafted skin included a small, meaningful tattoo: a semicolon. This symbol is widely recognised for representing hope, resilience, and mental health awareness, signifying the choice to continue one's life story.
"I first saw it in the hospital when my tongue was all stitched up," Harriet explained. "When I looked at it, I thought ‘I’ve got a tattoo on my tongue, this is crazy, how is this possible?’"
Recovery, resilience, and a 'good dating anecdote'
The journey was not straightforward. Two days after the initial surgery, Harriet needed emergency follow-up treatment because the blood vessels had not connected properly. Her recovery involved relearning how to talk and swallow, and she developed a slight lisp, which she is now working on with a speech and language team.
To ensure the cancer did not spread, she later received proton beam therapy at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, a precise form of radiotherapy. Throughout the ordeal, which finished in August, Harriet maintained a positive outlook. "I tried to stay very positive... the only way I could cope was making jokes," she said.
She now jokes that the unique placement of her tattoo makes for a "good dating anecdote," especially for the "two truths and a lie" section on profiles of the popular dating app Hinge.
While she has had the semicolon tattoo redone on her other arm, she carries the original—and its powerful message—with her every day. Looking ahead, Harriet plans to pursue a Masters degree in 2026 while continuing to audition for theatre roles.
A vital warning to others
Harriet is using her experience to warn others about the importance of early detection. She urges anyone with a mouth ulcer lasting longer than a few weeks to seek medical advice and push for a biopsy if necessary.
"It gets worse before it gets better," she said, offering a message of hope, "and you come out of it stronger than you ever thought you would."
