It's been over 900 days since my dad Andrew ate food.
The foodie who loved eating and enjoyed documenting his meals on his Instagram hasn't shared a meal with my family in over two years and is unsure if he will ever taste his favourite foods or sip coffee again.
Heartbreakingly, he can't swallow food or even his own saliva due to the removal of his epiglottis.
He is one of the only people in the southern hemisphere to be living with supraglottic stenosis, a rare condition caused by radiation for the treatment of his head and neck cancer.
Instead of eating, Dad, 60, injects an oral supplement via a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube three times a day.
It all began in September 2019, when was working as a logistics manager in Airport West.
He started feeling tired and experiencing a sore throat.
Despite a lump on the left-hand side of his neck, a doctor initially dismissed his symptoms as being rundown, prescribing antibiotics for tonsillitis.
Dad continued to work, brushing off feeling fatigued, until he almost passed out when driving me to work one day in October that year.
Doctors at Royal Melbourne Hospital discovered the lump in his neck was in fact a tumour, diagnosing him with stage four tonsil and tongue cancer, which is a form of head and neck cancer.
"I was told to have 35 sessions of radiation and chemotherapy to cure my cancer and be done with the treatment by December, and then go back to my normal life," he said.
"But I didn't recover, my symptoms only got worse.
"The radiation pretty much burnt the inside of my throat, my airways were just closing in to the size of a piece of rice.
"I had no idea how bad it was, doctors originally thought the coughing and soreness were just side effects that would go away."
Since Dad's second devastating diagnosis, he's undergone over a dozen surgeries, including four tracheostomies.
He still has a tube in his throat today to stop his airways from collapsing.
His most severe surgery was a throat reconstruction in October 2021, which involved taking the skin from his left arm and turning it inside out to manually make a bigger airway. It's an extremely rare procedure and he was lucky to survive it.
He hasn't been able to return to work.
Due to the rarity of his condition, his disability isn't widely recognised and budgets his six-figure medical bills around his disability pension, which is around $100 a week.
He has applied for the NDIS but is still awaiting approval.
Without a weekly wage, he relies on taking early payments from his super, despite not being a pensioner yet.
Dad holds a takeaway coffee cup in public - to try and "fit in with Melburnians down the street" - when he actually uses it to spit saliva into.
"People stare at me, confused why I am always coughing up saliva, not realising I have a medical condition and can't swallow," he said.
"For months, I wouldn't leave home, embarrassed about the tube poking out of my neck and my stomach."
As an avid cook and fan of Melbourne's food scene, this no-swallowing side effect was a particularly devastating blow to both himself and his daughter.
Even though he can't eat the food, Dad still wanted to be part of family meals so turned to the kitchen, making meals for Mum and I.
Frustrated by the looks Dad received in public, I started a TikTok channel to share him cooking dinners and help him build confidence.
The account has over 6.5 million likes and 68,000 followers.
A video showing Dad, unable to eat himself yet cooking my favourite meal, has been watched by over one million people.
I have been appointed as an ambassador for Head and Neck Cancer Australia.
July is World Head and Neck Cancer Awareness month.
Watching what my dad has gone through, knowing that others are also suffering with so little funding and awareness, yet knowing there is one charity in Australia doing its best to make a difference to those people, I am on a mission to make Head and Neck Cancer Australia well-known.
I especially want to help create support for Head and Neck Cancer patients following treatment.
The reality is that many continue to be affected by their treatment for years, if not for life.
I also want to be a spokesperson for carers and family members who can feel just as impacted as the patient.
Despite his ordeal, Dad remains optimistic and hopes additional treatment will allow him to swallow once again.
"I dream of the day I can sip beer again and take a bite into a sandwich or have a coffee with my wife," he said.
"I'm proud of my daughter for being my voice, when I'm fighting to keep mine."
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