Actor who discovered he contracted cancer from oral sex revealed the heartbreaking impact it's had on his life
An actor who was diagnosed with tonsil cancer from oral sex has described how difficult things have been, and how he's maintaining a 'positive, optimistic outlook'.
Critical Role star Sam Riegel said he'd been 'feeling great' in 2024 with a happy family and a successful career, but then one March morning his morning breakfast of oatmeal with honey and berries tasted bitter.
While he initially thought it was covid, tests found that he had oropharyngeal carcinoma, with a doctor putting a finger right on his tonsils and telling him there was cancer right there.
The cancer was a result of contracting Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, via oral sex and while the good news was that it had been caught early and he was told 'you don't die from this' it's still had a major impact on his life.
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Speaking on the Harder to Breathe podcast, Riegel described how the damage done to his voice has made his life harder, especially since he's in a job where he talks for a living.
Dungeons and Dragons fans will know him best for his work on Critical Role, which is now being adapted into Prime Video animated series, while he was also Donatello in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animation of the early noughties.
As such his voice is his stock and trade, and a job where he's required to spend his days doing takes of speaking and singing has taken a toll.
"I can only really do like three or four takes of a song and that's it for the day," he told the podcast of working on the Prime Video show The Legend of Vox Machina, where he plays a bard.
"And I sometimes have to wait like two or three days before I can try again. And that sucks. Doing all these exercises every day sucks. I have to reach in my mouth and massage my tonsils just to loosen everything up.
"This sucks. I have to massage my scar. That sucks. Everything sucks."
While that may sound downbeat, the actor says that taking care of his voice is 'better than the alternative and it's just now part of the routine'.
Speaking on the podcast last year he said he thought after an extended period of talking his 'voice is going to be scratchy for the rest of the day'.
Ultimately he is keeping an optimistic approach and has been working plenty since his recovery, saying: "It's important that I talk about it. It's important that I do stuff and and every day I'm getting stronger. So, yeah, I have a a positive, optimistic outlook and I'm going to be fine. I lived."
He's also been encouraging people to get the HPV vaccine as tonsil cancer caused by it was 'the one kind of cancer you can actually prevent'.
Symptoms of oral HPV
It is important that you see a doctor if you notice these symptoms persisting, or if they are starting to worry you:
- Long-lasting sore throat
- Hoarseness
- Ear aches
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Pain when swallowing
- Unexplained weight loss
Some people have no symptoms, according to the US Centres For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though serious cases of HPV can cause warts or cancer.
Joe Harker
