Mark, the cause of my tonsil cancer is the biggest mystery in my life that may never get an answer to it. I never smoked and never drank one can of beer in my life. I have a very healthy family history with my grandparents and parents dying at a very old age. When I was diagnosed, I was in my mid 40's, considered relatively young by my doctors to develop cancer. My oncologist told me that the EB virus in my body was at a very high level when I was diagnosed but he was not sure of the correlation between EB virus and the type of cancer I had. In Hong Kong, the number of patients with tonsil cancer was and is very small and if there are any, they are usually heavy smokers or those with very poor oral hygiene.The hospital where I was treated is the biggest cancer centre in Hong Kong and yet my oncologist could not give me valid statistics about my illness. He could only quote cases of NPC( nasophargenal(sp?)), a very common cancer among male smokers in southern China. In fact my oncologist told me that I was treated as if I were an NPC patient and that's why every time I had my appointment, he would send an endoscope to check my nose! He stopped doing this for about a year now. Before I found OCF, I felt so lonely because I could not find a survivor with tonsil cancer in my place to talk to. No doctors can give me an answer to why I am so 'lucky' to develop tonsil cancer. From the Chinese doctors' point of view, pollution, diet, a person's character,lifestyle, continuous stress, sudden encounter of life trauma.. can be possible causes.Even though my oncologist told me in the last appointment that I am at present free from tumor recurrence, my anxiety is always there since if the cause is not known, I have no way to put it under control. Is there really nothing we can do to prevent it from recurring?

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnose in 9/01.