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A Woman Noticed a Red Spot on Her Tongue. It Almost Killed Her

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  May 16, 2026 6:00 AM

It’s an intense story. Rachel Passarella, a nurse and mother of four, noticed a red dot on her tongue. She showed it to her dentist, who said it was a canker sore. Passarella wasn’t a drinker or smoker, so she thought it would resolve on its own. But it didn’t. After trying many over-the-counter treatments, the spot doubled in size until one day, when Passarella woke up and found herself at death’s door

It wasn’t a canker sore: it was cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma has ravaged her tongue, where 35 percent had to be removed. But on the day when it all hit the fan, Passarella thought she was going to die, waking up choking on and coughing up blood clots. She described it as blood “squirting” out of her mouth from a ruptured artery. By the time Passarella made it to the emergency room, she’d lost 20 percent of her blood volume (via NY Post):

Rachel Passarella, a young nurse and mother, initially thought the red spot on her tongue was the physical toll of a bad breakup — but the reality proved far more devastating.

“I told myself it was probably a canker sore brought on by the heartbreak and tension. I rinsed with salt water, monitored it, and waited for it to heal. But it didn’t,” Passarella, 42, told Newsweek.

[…]

Passarella continued to treat the issue with home remedies, including canker sore patches, coconut oil, baking soda rinses and honey, but the spot didn’t go away — in fact, it doubled in size.

She saw an ENT specialist, who told her it was likely stress-related and gave her steroids. Passarella’s request for a biopsy was dismissed it as unnecessary.

[…]

Finally, a second dentist she saw was alarmed at the sight of the lesion, scanning it with a handheld oral cancer screening device. It turned up bad news: The lesion was likely cancerous.

She still didn’t manage to get a biopsy for months, but it confirmed her fears.

“On March 2…I got the call: squamous cell carcinoma. Tongue cancer. Six months after that tiny red spot appeared,” she said.

[…]

After more testing, she had a partial glossectomy, a procedure to remove part of her tongue. She was diagnosed with Stage 2 tongue cancer — and that wasn’t even the worst part.

One morning, she woke up choking and began spitting out blood clots. The blood then started “squirting” from her mouth.

“I knew instantly that an artery had burst,” she said, recalling how she frantically texted her teenage daughter: “This is an emergency. I’m going to die.”

Luckily, doctors were able to stitch the artery, and she was fortunate. Passarella is now undergoing speech therapy, but she’s also educating the public about how tongue cancers are often misdiagnosed and can, as in her case, potentially lead to life-threatening complications. 

The Post also provided an image of the damage: