Mouth cancer patients spoke out yesterday to warn others of the dangers of smoking and using smokeless tobacco.

At a mouth cancer screening event, organised as part of Mouth Cancer Awareness Week at the Shapla Community Centre in Bradford, Sunaban Bibi, 72, of Bradford, spoke about her battle with mouth cancer after taking up chewing tobacco in 1974 as a way of easing toothache.

And Veronica Roberts, 63, of Keighley, told how she had smoked heavily before her own diagnosis of mouth cancer.

Mrs Bibi and Mrs Roberts are both patients of Jim McCaul, a consultant maxillofacial surgeon at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He attended the event to raise awareness of the risks of tobacco use.

He said if people had an ulcer or lump in their mouth that did not go away in two to three weeks, they should seek medical help immediately.

Mrs Bibi said she had not realised the dangers of chewing tobacco until she needed surgery to remove a tumour three years ago.

Asked what her message would be now, she said: “Please stop chewing – you could get cancer and it is a scary thing.”

Mrs Roberts, a former teacher, said she found a first tumour on her tongue in 2003. It was removed, but a new patch developed in January which required major surgery.

“It was frightening,” she said. “They took the whole thing away and took a skin graft from my arm and an artery. They also took lymph nodes from my throat and I needed a tracheotomy.

“I was in intensive care and couldn’t eat or drink for days and had to learn how to swallow again.”

A further screening event was taking place today at HOPES in Farfield Street, Bradford from 11am to 1pm and tomorrow at the Sangat Community Centre, Marlborough Street, Keighley.

Read more on this story in today's T&A