PHOENIX (AZFamily) — An Arizona woman is bravely sharing her story after what started as a small canker sore turned into a life-altering diagnosis.

Michelle Smith never thought she would find herself in this endless nightmare. It began in 2021, when she developed a minor canker sore and visited the dentist for a checkup.

“I had no other symptoms or problems. I had seen my dentist. They never questioned if there was something wrong,” Smith said.

But that sore never healed, and Smith was later diagnosed with head and neck cancer.

“I died that day. The person I was died that day,” she said.

The cancer has dramatically altered Smith’s life. Her mouth is wired shut, with exposed hardware and a fabricated jaw taken from other bones in her body.

“I had to learn to walk again. I had to lear

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