Woman’s life-saving surgical procedure has left her gag reflex in weird location

A 30-year-old woman had to relearn how to swallow after having a tumour removed from her throat. The successful operation left Bella Johnston with a bizarre side effect – her gag reflex in her ear.

Bella, who was misdiagnosed with anorexia and bulimia when she suddenly started losing weight at 14, discovered the truth about her condition years later.

After leaving home at 18, she was on the “brink of death” with a “huge” lump on her neck. A hospital visit for a burn led to an ultrasound that revealed a 7cm by 5cm tumour.

Following a 10-hour surgery where doctors removed tissue from her right side due to the tumour’s entanglement with her jugular nerve and vagus nerve, they grafted part of her nerve to her ear, resulting in her unusual gag reflex location. Now, Bella has taught herself to swallow again by tilting her chin to her shoulder to close her windpipe.

The nanny, now residing in Hackney, London, shared: “They had to cut everything out of my right hand side.”

“It was wrapped around my jugular vein and vagus nerve. They grafted part of my nerve to my ear. I have my gag reflex in my ear. It’s the most weird thing ever. I had a nasal gastric tube for a while and my original diagnosis was I’d only eat soft foods for the rest of my life.”, reports the Mirror.

“Doctors said I’d never eat a sandwich again. I love sandwiches so I thought ‘nope’. Through a lot of trial and error and with a speech phycologist I now touch my chin to my shoulder. It closes my wind pipe and uses the left muscles that are strong to push the food down. I can’t swallow face head on.”

Bella, originally from Sydney, Australia, was just a teen when she began experiencing worrying symptoms. She shared: “I lost a lot of weight really suddenly. I had a horrible cough that wouldn’t go away. My parents started taking me to the doctors. Because I was presenting like it and throwing up and not being able to eat I was diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia.”

She endured years of treatment and family therapy, where Bella confessed: “I had regular weigh ins. I put paper weights into my pockets and wore ankle weights.”

Moving to Melbourne at 18 to pursue singing, she noticed her vocal range diminishing. Bella recounted her harrowing state: “I was 43 kilos. I was on the brink of death. I was throwing up three to four times a day. I was only able to eat a piece of toast. I was living on Red Bull and painkillers. I had accepted I was going to die.”

Bella sought every possible alternative therapy as a lump grew on her neck. A visit to the doctor in August 2014 for a burn led to a pivotal moment.

She recalled: “They said ‘that’s fine, but what is wrong with you? ‘ They sent me for an ultrasound.”

Bella recounted her harrowing medical ordeal, saying: “The nurse was all chatty and then immediately called in the doctors. I knew something was wrong.”

She was soon informed about a giant tumour in her neck requiring surgery. “It was a relief. I was really comforting in a way. They were telling me I wasn’t crazy,” she stated.

Initially thought to be benign, the reality of Bella’s condition shocked even the medical professionals. Upon surgically exploring the area, they likened what they found to the “inside of a rotten fruit”.

Bella herself was disgusted: “They said my neck looked like lychees but rotten. It was so gross.”

Unfortunately, the aftermath of the surgery left her with multiple complications including loss of control in her right arm and paralysis of half of her oesophagus. Detailing her traumatic experience, she said: “My mouth stopped working. My eye dropped. I didn’t sweat on the right side of my face. Half my vocal cords are paralysed. Part of my tongue is paralysed on the right hand side. I can only chew on one side. I can’t lick all of my teeth.”

A subsequent biopsy delivered more bad news; the tumour was cancerous, leading her through six weeks of radiotherapy.

The doctors initially feared the worst—a potential spread of cancer to her brain—and suggested she may only have months to live. However, further tests offered a glimmer of hope as they showed no spread of the cancer.

After enduring such trials, Bella finally returned home in September 2014. Since then, she’s been under vigilant surveillance with MRIs every six months for the last decade.

After enduring 15 surgeries to reconstruct her vocal cords, remove tumours and address her drooping eye and right side of her face, Bella bravely admitted: “I felt like I lost my entire identity. I had cancer but it’s never stopped affecting me. Surgery cut me out of my body. I’ve been spending the last 10 years trying to get into the body – it feels foreign to me still.”

Bella has lived a decade under the shadow of cancer recurrence but hitting 30 has brought new hope. She confided: “It’s only now that I have realised that I actually want to live. I never really planned life in my thirties. I thought it [the cancer] was going to come back.”

Love also blossomed for Bella this year when she met her young beau Harri James, 24, who has nurtured a positive shift in her self-perception and outlook on life.

Opening up, she reflected: “I’m accepting I’m alive.”