Colleen Zenk-Pinter
News

As previously reported, Collen Zenk Pinter was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2006. Below, she talks about the ordeal with Soap Opera Digest.

Soap Opera Digest: How did this all begin?
Colleen Zenk Pinter: I first noticed it last summer, so it's been over a year now. [I constantly had] canker sores coming and going last summer into last fall. They finally stopped going away and started getting larger — you know how painful one is, these were multiplying. I said, "This isn't right," and that's when I called my physician to get my yearly, thinking I could get in right away, forgetting that it takes a while to book something like that.

I called the second week of November and he couldn't get me in until the first week of January. I had actually talked to Eldo [Ray Estes, As the Worls Turns' key makeup artist] at work about it. I had shown him and said, 'I'm dealing with this nasty thing that won't go away.' So I went in and saw my doctor, got my physical. All of my numbers, my blood work, my cholesterol, my iron, everything was in great shape.

I was a really healthy 54-year-old who has boundless energy. I overbook myself all the time, as my mother tells me. I said to the doctor, "Take a look at this." And he said, "I don't like it. You're going to go see a maxillofacial specialist tomorrow." ... [The specialist] said, "I think you have a combination of a fungal and bacterial infection, so let's treat you for that." It was an antibiotic, a big bottle of orange medicine. And it started working and it got better. I would go back and see him every single week for five weeks.

And then it stopped working. [What was left was the tumor.] Usually, you don't know what's going on inside of your mouth. By the time I went into surgery, if I stuck my tongue out, you could see the right side was about twice as big as the left, and the tumor went way to the back. You could feel the entire thing. But who goes around feeling their tongue?

Digest: What has the response been like?
Pinter: The outpouring of understanding and love and encouragement that I have felt, from not just the fans but people who have found out about this and have had family members or they themselves have gone through it, the support has been overwhelming. It's all, "Thank you for getting it out there. Thank you for saying something, speaking up."

That's all it's about.

As the World Turns fans have known that something wasn't quite right with Colleen Zenk-Pinter for a few week. Her speech has been slurred and many have wondered if the longtime actress suffered a stroke.

She hasn't. But the As the World Turns has been diagnosed with oral cancer.

The news came as a surprise to the 54-year-old star, who doesn't smoke or drink, two of the biggest risk factors for oral cancer. She is, however, a carrier of the human papilloma virus (HPV), the virus that can cause cervical cancer in women. Recently, doctors also linked HPV to oral cancer.

"I was so lucky that it was discovered as Stage II cancer," Pinter said. "[The doctors] were able to treat me and perform the surgeries on me that still enabled me to have use of my tongue. And I still have my taste buds. It's a very, very invasive kind of procedure."

Over the course of three separate surgeries, half of Pinter's tongue had to be reconstructed.

"I want to thank the fans for the love and support they have sent my way these past months," Pinter said. "You will never know how much your kind words and encouragement have meant to me. Today I am cancer-free, but my disease is with me every second of every day.

My tongue is hard, lumpy, laced with scar tissue and often covered with painful blisters. It affects my speech, how I eat, how I drink and how I kiss my husband. Yet, I am lucky."

After being diagnosed in March, Pinter is now happy to announce she's cancer-free. And we're happy to report that news.