Lesser-known symptoms of tongue cancer as Top Chef's Shirley Chung shares health update

Last year, Top Chef star Shirley Chung spoke out about her diagnosis with stage four tongue cancer, bravely detailing the warning signs of the condition after doctors found a tumour in her mouth.

In May 2025, she shared an update on Instagram about her treatment and progress towards recovery.

“Introducing Shirley Chung 2.0!!” she wrote on Instagram. “11 months ago, May 30th 2024, I was diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma tongue cancer. The tumour was hidden on the bottom left of my tongue, and it was progressing so aggressively that in less than 1 week of the diagnosis, it took over almost my entire tongue.

“Since 100% removal of my tongue was not an option for me as a chef. I moved to Chicago, started radiation and chemo treatments in @uchicago under Dr Vokes’ and Dr.Juloori’s care.

“I completed 9 weeks, 27 chemos, then 10 weeks 50 radiation and 24 hour chemo drip.My first three-month scans came back 98% cleared, only 2 of my left lymph nodes had cancer cells. I just completed my six month scans, I can proudly say, no cancer cell was detected in my body, I am in 100% remission!!”

She contined: “I am still healing, learning to speak again and started to have solid food for two meals a day. Dr Vokes said I need to continue to get tests and scans for two years, then I will be officially cured.

“But I am feeling great, and can’t wait to get back to life! In my cancer journey, so many of you reaching out, checking on me, digging me out when I was depressed. Your love, your prayers, your support carried me forward, helped me heal, helped me always see the light.

“2.0 is stronger because I am powered by all of your love. Sincerely, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will share details of my fighting journey in the next few weeks, and I hope it will help other cancer warriors, it’s time for me to pay it forward.”

When she first announced her diagnosis, she said she was ‘very calm’ and ‘extremely focused on getting all the tests and scans as fast as possible’.

Upon learning about treatment options, she said struggled to contend with the reality of it but decided to opt for the more high-risk option that could prevent her from having her tongue removed.

“I broke down, crying, trying to put thoughts together and ask questions but physically couldn’t, all I heard was ‘option 1, surgery, 100% removal of your tongue’… Jimmy was holding it together for both of us, asking if we have any option that I can keep my tongue and the survival rates,” she said.

“’There is another option, which was a unicorn case, at University of Chicago, they cured a patient (a chef!) with radiation and chemo, but you will have to go to Chicago’.

“Higher survival rate, or keep my tongue? I chose to keep my tongue, I am a fighter, I am a chef, I can be that unicorn too.”

Speaking about the warning signs, she said that her concerns started in December 2023 following a ‘series of dental issues’.

"I bit my tongue severely; I fractured my tooth and had to extract it and get an implant… we thought it was because I am a heavy teeth grinder,” she said.

“And I was too busy to see a EMT specialist. The end of May, ulcers erupted in my mouth and my oral surgeon discovered a hidden tumor under my tongue.

“A few days later, I was diagnosed, stage 4 tongue cancer, as cancer cells also spread into my lymph nodes.”

As the tongue reaches back into the throat, cancer can begin either there or in the mouth.

According to Mayo Clinic, symptoms include:

• A red or white patch on the tongue or lining of the mouth.
• A sore throat that doesn't go away.
• A feeling that something is caught in the throat.
• Numbness of the mouth or tongue.
• Difficulty or pain with chewing, swallowing, or moving the jaws or tongue.
• Swelling of the jaw.
• A change in voice.