‘Am I going to be around?’: Joshua Giorgio has jaw removed after horrifying discovery

After months of toothaches and mouth pain, this married father-of-two was referred by his dentist to an oral specialist – what came next was a “traumatic” discovery.

Father-of-two Joshua Giorgio jokes that now when he says he has his foot in his mouth he can mean it, after cancer left him requiring a jaw reconstruction from his leg bone.

“They (doctors) took my fibula bone … and they basically cut from my ankle up towards my knee,” the 43-year-old told The Advertiser.

“I was in intensive care for eight days and that was quite traumatic.”

After months of toothaches and mouth pain, Mr Giorgio’s wife Debora Giorgio encouraged him to see a dentist which referred him to an oral specialist.

From there, a biopsy revealed the Kidman Park man had oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).

“I had my wife and my two kids in my head,” he said.

“Am I going to be around? What’s going to happen? You get all those thoughts.”

Maryrose (10), Josh, Debora and Alessandro (7) Giorgio after Josh was diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 2024. Picture: Tim Joy

After his diagnosis in July 2024, Mr Giorgio underwent surgery in August 2024, where doctors took bone, muscle and blood vessels from his leg and reconstructed his upper jaw.

Following the surgery he underwent radiotherapy everyday.

“I copped it pretty hard,” he said.

“Within a week a lost my tastebuds, then I got severe ulcers in my mouth, I couldn’t eat without a struggle.

“There came a time that a drink of water would hurt so much.

“I had severe burns on my neck, on my face and my nose is still affected.”

Following the radiotherapy, in November, he discovered a lump which was non-cancerous and later removed.

But months later, in February this year, another lump appeared overnight.

Josh Giorgio, a father-of-two, during treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 2024. Picture: GoFundMe

Doctors decided they were going to remove the lump and conducted a PET scan prior to the removal surgery.

The day before Mr Giorgio was due for the surgery a doctor told him devastating news.

“The lump was cancerous and it had spread to some lymph nodes in my neck … the base of my skull and also into my lung,” he said.

Mr Giorgio was told he had stage four cancer.

Josh Giorgio says he’ll “do whatever I can to see my children grow up”. Picture: GoFundMe

Josh Giorgio says he wants to see his children “grow into the people I know they can be”. Picture: GoFundMe

Unable to bear the thought of his leaving his family behind — wife and children, 10-year-old daughter Maryrose and seven-year-old Alessandro — Mr Giorgio has sought out integrative therapies to work in conjunction with his immunotherapy.

“I will do whatever I can to see my children grow up,” he said.

“I want to see them grow into the people that I know they can be and they want to be.

“I want to be here for them and my wife and all my family and friends who have been so supportive throughout this whole time. I’ve got a lot of people who back me and I don’t want to let anyone down.”

If you’d like to donate to Mr Giorgio, you can here.

Originally published as ‘Am I going to be around?’: Joshua Giorgio has jaw removed after horrifying discovery