Newborn granddaughter gives head and neck cancer survivor hope
Janet Slinkard woke up one morning in early 2024 with what felt like a frog in her throat. Drinking water and resting her voice didn’t help. Her doctor kept her on antibiotics for months, but that didn’t work either.
Because her mother had died of throat cancer years earlier, Slinkard kept pushing for answers as she continued to feel worse. In December 2024, she collapsed in her Westminster home and was rushed to an Orange County emergency room (ER).
ER doctors discovered a tumor under one of her tonsils. It was pushing against the base of her carotid artery, dropping her heart rate to deadly levels. Doctors immediately implanted a pacemaker to keep her heart beating.
Slinkard was referred to Dr. Tjoson Tjoa, a UCI Health otolaryngologist and surgeon who specializes in head and neck cancer. A biopsy of the tumor revealed she had oropharynx cancer, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). It is considered the leading cause of all oropharyngeal cancers, according to the Oral Cancer Foundation.
Preparing for a granddaughter
When Tjoa first met Slinkard, he suspected, based on her symptoms, that she had oropharynx cancer.
“The best course of treatment for many oropharynx cancer patients is radiation, especially for patients with HPV-positive cases,” says Tjoa, an associate professor and chair of the UC Irvine School of Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.. “Targeted radiation also helps to spare damage to other healthy tissues. Janet was a prime candidate for this treatment protocol.”
She began radiation treatment in early 2025 at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCI Health — Orange, several months before her daughter was to give birth to her first child. Managing the treatment's side effects wasn’t easy, but her determination to be in her granddaughter’s life Slinkard focused on beating cancer.
“My daughter never left my side and did everything for me while I was going through treatment,” she recalls. “When her pregnancy-related doctor’s appointments conflicted with my radiation and chemo schedules, she arranged for a friend to take me to treatment.”
On April 1, 2025, Slinkard completed her last radiation treatment. Two weeks later, she was in the delivery room when her granddaughter Evelyn was born.
Feeling better every day
“My daughter never left my side and did everything for me while I was going through treatment,” she recalls. “When her pregnancy-related doctor’s appointments conflicted with my radiation and chemo schedules, she arranged for a friend to take me to treatment.”
On April 1, 2025, Slinkard completed her last radiation treatment. Two weeks later, she was in the delivery room when her granddaughter Evelyn was born.
Importantly, Evelyn just turned 1. Slinkard celebrated by helping to throw her a rodeo-themed birthday party, "Evelyn’s First Rodeo.”
Slinkard credits UCI Health and her team of doctors — Tjoa, radiation oncologist Dr. Quoc-Anh Ho and medical oncologist Dr. Rupali K. Nabar — with saving her life.
“Because of them, I get to watch my granddaughter grow up.”
Learn more about UCI Health Head and Neck Cancer Services.