Understanding Oral Cancer
- Academy Award–winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, has revealed she holds on to a discontinued bottle of Quadrille by Balenciaga in her bathroom to remind her of her mom Blythe Danner.
- Blythe Danner, 81, is an oral cancer survivor who beat the disease after losing her beloved husband, Bruce Paltrow, to oral cancer in 2002.
- The causes of Blythe or Bruce’s cancer are unknown, but we do know there is a link between oral cancer and HPV. The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is an extremely common virus spread through sexual activity that nearly every sexually active person will get at some point in their lives.
- Thankfully, we have a safe and effective vaccine to prevent HPV-related cancers.
- Family support through life’s challenges, even cancer treatment, can make the world of a difference, whether it’s support from friends, family, spouses, or fellow cancer fighters in a support group.
Academy Award–winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, has revealed she holds on to a sweet sentimental object in honor of her 81-year-old mom Blythe Danner. She keeps a discontinued bottle of Quadrille perfume by Balenciaga in her bathroom at home to help her feel closer to her mom when she they aren't together. Paltrow—who previously opened up about her struggle with perimenopause, losing her dad Bruce Paltrow to oral cancer in 2002, and her mom's battle with a rare form of oral cancer called adenoid cystic carcinoma after a 2018 diagnosis—told
women's magazine Allure about her nostalgic perfume bottle as she walked through her lavish bathroom earlier this month. The mom of one and founder of the lifestyle company Goop was featured in a video clip shared by Allure on social media, offering a glimpse of her "chic" and ever-so relaxing bathroom.
RELATED: How to Cope After Losing a Parent to Cancer "I'm a person that really loves scent and I'm really transported by it. This is the perfume my mom used to have. It's discontinued. It's Quadrille by Balenciaga," Paltrow explains in the TikTok
footage, while standing in front of her perfume collection. "I keep this little empty bottle because it still smells like her from when I was a little girl."
RELATED: Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 51, Grappling With Perimenopause— The Critical Cancer Screenings Women Need At This Time Of Life Paltrow also shared the footage to her Instagram page, with the captioned, "Thanks for stopping by my bathroom, @allure. P.S. Does anybody know where I can track down another bottle of Quadrille perfume?" As for what inspired her to create her bathroom the way it looks, Paltrow told Allure, "When I design a bathroom, I really want to to feel like a very peaceful sanctuary. And every time I come into this room it's really special and luxurious in its own way, and very chic. She pointed out where she keeps her "extra Emmy" award in the corner of the room and where she does her daily skincare routine. https://www.tiktok.com/@allure/video/7361838658908867882 Paltrow also noted she has a sauna located outside of her bathroom, something she says she uses "usually every other day" for about 20 to 30 minutes, describing it as "one of the best investments I've made in the bathroom area." It's understandable why the beloved actress, who rose to fame in the 1990s and is also known for her roles in "Great Expectations" and "Shakespeare in Love," has a sanctuary-like bathroom, as she often promotes a healthy lifestyle and offers health advice on her Goop website, podcasts and social media. It's heart-warming to see Paltrow keeps something so meaningful in her home to remind her of her mom, who turned 81 on February 3.
RELATED: New Gwyneth Paltrow Sunburn Photos Spark Concern For The Actress & Wellness Guru She took to Instagram to commemorate her mom's birthday this year with a photo of her mom in pajamas, wearing vintage sunglasses and sun hats indoors. "Makes pajamas look incredibly glamorous, and we were together so much yesterday that I forgot to post. Happy birthday you utterly fabulous creature. Love you, mom," she captioned the post.
RELATED: Helicopter Crash Nearly Took Model Christie Brinkley’s Life 30 Years Ago– At 70, She Looks Back Amid Recent Cancer Scare More On Support Through Cancer
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Parents Battle Cancer
When Gwyneth Paltrow’' father and Blythe Danner's husband, Bruce Paltrow,
died of oral cancer in 2002 , the whole family was aching from grief. He was 58 at the time. "You never get over that kind of loss," Blythe previously said. "Bruce was the heart of our family. And life is so much paler without him around. But grief is the price we pay for love." Sadly, that was not the only time the family was touched by cancer. Blythe was diagnosed with a
type of oral cancer called
adenoid cystic carcinoma in March 2018. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, ACC is a relatively rare form of cancer that most commonly develops in the salivary glands or other regions of the head and neck.
"I started feeling very woozy and I was forgetting everything," Blythe explained of her symptoms prior to diagnosis. “And then I felt a lump in my neck, right next to where Bruce had found his [in 1999].” Blythe chose the keep the news from her daughter for quite some time, but she eventually revealed her diagnosis to Gwyneth.
Telling Your Kids You Have Cancer: "When it Comes to Your Kids, You Want to Protect Them" “I was obviously very shocked," Gwyneth said. “It was scary. And it felt really eerie because it was so similar [to my dad’s].” For treatment, Blythe underwent two surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation and several years of alternative treatments followed by a third surgery in 2020. She is happily in remission today.
RELATED: This Highly Addictive Nut Is Contributing to Spikes in Oral Cancer in Other Parts of the World — And Many Don’t Know It "It's a sneaky disease," Blythe said. "But I'm fine and dandy now. And I'm lucky to be alive."
Coping With Oral Cancer
"From the 1980s to the 2010s, the rate of HPV-related head and neck cancers has gone up by 300 percent,"
Dr. Ted Teknos , a head and neck cancer specialist and president and scientific director of University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland, Ohio, told SurvivorNet during a previous interview. Though not all oral cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, there is a link.
RELATED: Why the HPV Vaccine is so Important in Preventing Cancer The vast majority of humans in the United States, both men and women, will eventually get infected with HPV, according to
Dr. Allen Ho , a head and neck surgeon at Cedars-Sinai. “The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to be more cancer-inducing,” Dr. Ho previously told SurvivorNet during an interview. “Probably less than 1 percent of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that somehow their immune system fails to clear, and over 15 to 20 years it develops from a viral infection into a tumor and cancer.”
RELATED: Regaining Health and Passion, How ‘Yellowstone’ Actor Barry Corbin, 82, Made It Through Oral Cancer WATCH: Understanding the Human papillomavirus. While surgery is often required to remove the cancerous cells, other treatments include chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted drug therapies. If the cancer is advanced, some of these treatments can affect a patient’s ability to eat or speak, though it’s possible to regain those functions through rehabilitation therapy.
Finding Joy Every Day
Dr. Dana Chase , a gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology, emphasizes the importance of working on your emotional health during a cancer journey. “We know from good studies that emotional health is associated with survival, meaning better quality of life is associated with better outcomes,” Dr. Chase told SurvivorNet. "So working on your emotional health, your physical well-being, your social environment [and] your emotional well-being are important and can impact your survival.” Dr. Chase recommends jotting down ten things that make you happy and making the time to do those activities throughout the day. She told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “Sometimes I will talk to a patient about making [a] list of the top ten things that bring them joy. And trying to do those ten things to make at least 50 percent of their experiences positive throughout the day.” Even if you’re working hard to prioritize your mental health by doing activities you love, it can still be quite overwhelming to think of the things you can’t control during a cancer battle, whether it's your own or a loved ones.
Dr. William Breitbart , chair of the department of psychology and behavioral sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, says acceptance is an important part of living with cancer.
Learn to Accept Yourself — A Huge Part of Living With Cancer “What the task becomes is having the courage to live in the face of uncertainty, realizing that you cannot necessarily control the uncertainty in life, the suffering that occurs, limitations, challenges both good and bad,” Dr. Breitbart said. “You may not be able to control those but you have control over how you choose to respond to them and the attitudes you take towards them.” Remember, challenging oneself can actually help people facing cancer, chronic disease, or other problems to develop resilience, which is an
essential coping tool . However, it’s also importance to understand that rest and recovery also plays a huge role in overcoming a health battle. That process of pushing oneself to try new things is one of the “three wellsprings of vitality,” according to
Dr. Samantha Boardman , a New York-based psychologist. The other two are connecting with others and contributing to the lives of people around you. “Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,”
Dr. Boardman explains. Mental Health Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality These pathways can help someone develop the strength needed to survive or manage a difficult situation, but they all come back to having a positive outlook. According to Dr. Boardman, these three wellsprings of vitality are:
- Connecting. This involves how you’re connecting with others and having meaningful interactions. It involves being a good listener and being engaged with the people around you who you care about.
- Contribution . How are you adding value to the people around you? Are you helping them in ways that feel meaningful to them? Basically, this entails contributing/engaging with others in a meaningful way.
- Feeling challenged. Being “positively challenged” could involve learning something new (perhaps by taking a new class or reading an interesting book) and expanding your mind in some way. “Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman said.
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Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff 
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