At 28, cancer took half her tongue. Annette O'Donnell found her voice through art

“At 28, cancer took half my tongue. But it could not take everything I still had to say.”

Annette O'Donnell, from Welwyn, knew silence long before that. As a child surviving sexual abuse, she learned to keep secrets before she understood that she deserved protection. Years later, surgery for tongue cancer left her with a tracheotomy and an uncertain future, and she had to rebuild her speech and her confidence.

Within four years she had lost a baby, married on crutches, faced cancer and lost the voice her television career depended on. Financial collapse and the end of her marriage came later, and with them the challenge of finding purpose as a single mother.

“My way forward began with six children around my dining table,” she says.

That small beginning became ArtsKool for Kids, the creative business she has run for more than two decades. Helping children express themselves reminded her that a voice can take many forms.

Her own creativity opened another door. A profound spiritual experience inspired her to paint angels intuitively, often blindfolded, and her paintings have since reached international exhibitions. She also plays intuitive angelic harp music, creating moments of calm for people and animals.

She is now writing her memoir, The Secret, The Silence, The Light, and has joined the Start Over Movement, founded by Marco Robinson.

For anyone who feels silenced, overlooked or frightened to begin again, she hopes her story offers a reason to take that first step. “Starting over has happened many times in my life,” she says. “Today, it means sharing what I once struggled to say.”

If anything in this story affects you, support is available. Samaritans in the UK and Ireland can be reached on 116 123, and in the US and Canada you can call or text 988.

Heroic Breaking News is run by Marco Robinson, founder of the Start Over Movement.