‘Top Chef’ fan favorite Shirley Chung has stage 4 tongue cancer

By Lisa Respers France | CNN

“Top Chef” alum Shirley Chung has gone public with her cancer diagnosis.

Sharing a video on social media in which her hair is getting shaved, Chung wrote that she had some “personal news.”

“Since last year December, I had a series of dental issues, I bit my tongue severely; I fractured my tooth and had to extract it and get an implant… we thought it was because I am a heavy teeth grinder,” she wrote.

The “Top Chef” Season 11 finalist and Season 14 competitor said she was initially “too busy to see a EMT specialist” but later developed ulcers in her mouth and “a hidden tumor” under her tongue.

“A few days later, I was diagnosed, stage 4 tongue cancer, as cancer cells also spread into my lymph nodes,” Chung, 47, wrote. “I was very calm when doctors delivered the news, as a chef, I’ve always thrive under pressure.”

Her treatment options, she wrote, were surgical removal of her tongue or treatment similar to a “unicorn case” of another chef who received radiation and chemotherapy at the University of Chicago.

While it meant relocating for treatment, Chung said she decided to try it.

“Higher survival rate, or keep my tongue?” she wrote. “I chose to keep my tongue, I am a fighter, I am a chef, I can be that unicorn too.”

Chung said she’s already completed six weeks of chemo with more to go. She ended her post on a hopeful note.