Shirley Chung of ‘Top Chef’ has stage 4 tongue cancer

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

“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.