Daniel Morrison

In early 2023, Daniel Morrison was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer, a rare form of cancer that affects the head and neck area. Due to its rarity, and with no prior symptoms, Daniel initially had no idea how serious his condition was.

Now in recovery, he’s thankful he got checked early and can be there for his young family. He’s encouraging anyone who thinks they might have cancer symptoms to visit their GP practice.

It all began in the summer of 2022. I can trace it back to the point, when I first noticed my symptoms. I had bubbles of fluid built up under my tongue, and felt really, really fatigued – more than I’d ever experienced before.

After visiting my dental practice, I got tests done and they found a small lump in my neck. Initially, I was told it was likely nothing and most likely a minor block in my salivary gland. A further series of tests were then run which showed no signs of cancer, but the doctors wanted to be totally sure so ran some further checks.

Following these checks, it was discovered that it actually was cancer. Two tumours were found, one benign and one malignant. It was the benign tumour that skewed the results at first as it was blocking sight of the malignant tumour.

Ironically though, this potentially saved my life as the benign tumour stopped the malignant one from spreading around my body. What’s for sure though is that getting everything checked early was vital to giving me the best chance of this all being discovered and treated.

I was then booked in for extensive surgery at the end of April 2023, where I was operated on for about 19 hours across two days.

The efficiency of the teams looking after me was really reassuring, everything was so professional and helpful. I’m so thankful as I’m a young dad with young children who need me. Early detection has definitely been essential in getting me to the stage I’m at now, where I can look forward with positivity to a bright future with my family.

Since my diagnosis and treatment, I’ve made a conscious effort to spend more quality time with my kids (ages five and seven), doing activities they enjoy like playing football, dancing, doing art and making up stories. I’m definitely more appreciative of the time we spend together.

I believe that sharing your journey can really make a difference in someone else’s life. I recently met with a group of medical students at the Glasgow Dental Hospital to discuss this. A big part of our conversation was about how important early detection is, and how spotting signs – no matter how small they may seem at the time – can have huge impact on increasing the chances for the person and their loved ones to live well again.

As for advice to anyone reading this with any niggling doubts or worries, I’d say to pay attention to symptoms. In my case fatigue and feelings of nausea were key signs. Often these symptoms aren’t really visibly obvious like you’d expect. It was only until I experienced such an obvious symptom – the bubbles under my tongue – that I thought I might have cancer, which is why early detection is so important.

Please don’t delay – contact your GP practice.

The information in this case study, including ages, are current as of the drafting date.