Dad-of-two horrified to learn he has throat cancer caused by oral sex

A father-of-two has told of his horror after learning his throat cancer was triggered by oral sex. 

Frank Lane, from Basingstoke in Hampshire, suddenly noticed a firm, egg-sized swelling on the right side of his neck in November 2023, believing it was swollen glands from overworking at the gym. 

But after the swelling failed to subside within a fortnight the 60-year-old contacted his GP who immediately referred him for urgent tests. 

Just weeks later scans revealed the HGV driver had throat cancer—caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) and contracted through oral sex. 

He claimed doctors told him his biopsy results suggested he’d contracted the virus up to 40 years earlier, around the time he joined the army at 20-years-old.

After months of gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, Mr Lane was told he had no evidence of disease and he undergoes checks every two months.

Now, he is calling on other not to brush off any unusual symptoms they may be suddenly experiencing and to always seek help quickly.    

Head and neck cancer is an umbrella term for cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, nose, sinuses and salivary glands.

Until recently, experts believed the main causes were lifestyle-related—particularly smoking and heavy drinking.

In recent years, research has suggested that HPV may be responsible for up to 70 per cent of head and neck cancers.

HPV is a common virus spread through close contact, including sex, and is usually harmless. However, in some cases—for reasons not fully understood—it can trigger cancerous changes in healthy tissue.

The virus is already known to cause cervical, anal and penile cancers.

A rise in head and neck cancers, particularly among younger and middle-aged patients, has been linked to oral sex.

Oral sex was also attributed by Hollywood star Michael Douglas’ as the cause of his throat cancer in 2010.

Recalling his terrifying ordeal, Mr Lane said: ‘I was having a shave, felt my neck and thought “that feels a bit hard”.

‘It was just a slight swelling. When the doctor looked in my mouth she could actually see it sticking out of the top of my tonsils, it was the size of a boiled egg.

‘I was very tired but I just thought it was down to work and not getting enough sleep. 

‘I was also waking up to go to the toilet three or four times a night, but I put that down to getting older.

‘My partner said to give it a fortnight as it might be my glands, [caused by] the stress of going to the gym.

He added: ‘When they said I had throat cancer I thought he was talking a load of rubbish for a split second because I’d stopped smoking 10 years ago.

‘[When he said] you’ve got throat cancer from oral sex it was a surprise.

‘Some of the guys I’ve told at work laughed, not because I had cancer but because of how it came about.

‘They said I was talking a load of rubbish, I told them to Google it and I saw the colour drain from their faces.

‘The consultant said because of the shape of the virus inside my biopsy they ascertain it’s from about 40 years ago.

‘I was sexually active around the age of 20. I was having fun, but I wasn’t messing about with loads of different girls.’

Mr Lane, who was in the Royal Corps of Signals for 12 years, initially had two rounds of chemotherapy at Henley Hospital in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in January 2024.

Doctors then recommended he undergo a six-week course of radiotherapy. 

‘I was in the army for 12 years and that [radiotherapy] was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,’ he said. 

Now 16 months on from completing treatment, Mr Lane is urging people to get anything unusual checked out.

‘I’ve been telling a lot of people—colleagues at work, people I chat to and meet at the gym and they’re like “oh my God, you’re kidding me?”

‘My advice would be don’t have oral sex. 

‘For anyone who can’t follow that, my advice would be if you have any unusual symptoms don’t ignore them, get it checked out.’

Cancers that affect the head and neck are the eighth most common form of cancer overall in the UK, although they are two to three times more common in men than in women. 

About 12,500 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to Cancer Research UK, and incidences are on the rise. 

Roughly 4,000 people are estimated to die from from the disease annually. 

Around eight in 10 people will get HPV at some point in their life and their body will clear it without any problems, according to the NHS. 

Experts have repeatedly urged people to get the HPV vaccine to reduce their risk of HPV cancers.

Yet, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UK’s HPV vaccine uptake lags shockingly behind other countries — just 56 per cent among girls and 50 per cent for boys.

Denmark, by comparison, records a rate of around 80 per cent. 

In the UK, the jab was offered to all girls in school year 8 since September 2008. But eligibility was only expanded to boys in year 8 from September 2019. 

Experts have long suggested that confusion and stigma around the HPV vaccine have contributed to these low uptake rates. 

The vaccine is often framed as just preventing cervical cancer or associated with sexual activity, alienating people, they argue.