Man thought his sore throat was from dust – oral sex gave him cancer

A father who initially dismissed a persistent sore throat as dust irritation from renovating his gym was left shocked to learn it was actually throat cancer – linked to the HPV16 virus contracted through oral sex. Jeff Bradford, 62, first noticed a tickly throat after working on the rafters of his gym in March 2016.

He explained: « We were in the loft putting some equipment up onto the rafters and there was a lot of dust and insulation. I had a mask but a couple of days after I had a bit of a sore throat and I thought it was just the dust but I couldn’t shake it. » He initially tried gargling soluble aspirin, convinced it was nothing more than a common sore throat.

After a fortnight with no signs of improvement, Jeff visited his GP, who diagnosed « classic tonsillitis » and prescribed antibiotics. When his symptoms persisted, he returned to see a different doctor, who prescribed a stronger course and took a throat swab, eventually referring him to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

« They must have seen the photos and thought ‘there’s something dodgy going on there’. I couldn’t see anything but I could feel something touching the back of my tongue, it was making me gag. It was like something was tickling the back of my tongue. » At the hospital, a specialist assessed Jeff and arranged a biopsy. While on the operating table, the surgeon told him the thumb-sized mass at the back of his throat had doubled in size since the previous scan and advised its immediate removal. « The surgeon came up that evening [after the surgery] and he said ‘looking at it, I think you’ve got stage three cancer‘ I was just shocked, » Jeff recalled.

Following the four-hour operation, tests confirmed stage-three throat cancer. Doctors informed Jeff that the cancer had been triggered by the HPV16 strain, which can be transmitted through sexual activity, most commonly oral sex.

« A week later I went back and that’s when they mentioned HPV, I didn’t know what that was. HPV is caught through sexual transmission, it’s normally from oral sex. I was totally shocked it was from that, » Jeff said, adding that doctors believed he had contracted the virus decades earlier, prior to meeting his wife Heidi Bradford.

Jeff endured chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiotherapy, leaving him bed-bound for three months. He went on to say: « Radiotherapy caused really bad burns. It was like someone took a blowtorch to my neck, it was horrible. I went home and went to bed for three months ».

Now a decade clear of cancer, Jeff is urging others not to dismiss persistent symptoms, saying: « If someone has a persistent sore throat my advice is to get it checked out, it could be easily missed if you don’t push it. Everybody does it, don’t they?

« It’s a normal, sexual activity with somebody you love… I would never say to anyone ‘give up oral sex’… but it might put people off that. I think if it’s not talked about quite candidly it’ll get brushed under the carpet and if people are embarrassed to talk about it they may avoid treatment. »

Jeff, a former Royal Air Force corporal and father-of-two from Forres, Moray, Scotland, attributed his diagnosis to simply « bad luck ».

He went on to say: « I’ve had a few partners before I met my wife, but you just go about life like everyone else. You don’t expect when you’re young ‘do that and I might get cancer when I’m 50-odd’. »

According to the NHS, human papillomavirus (HPV) is a collection of viruses that affect the skin and moist membranes, including the cervix, anus, mouth, and throat.

Predominantly passed on through sexual contact, including oral sex, the virus can trigger cellular changes that may ultimately develop into cancers, such as cervical or potentially throat cancer.