Hi Amber,
don't give up hope yet! I was 55 when diagnosed with a stage III/IV right tonsil cancer. They considered it inoperable based on the complexity of the surgery and subsequent quality of life issues. I had radiation and chemo and 2 years later I am doing fine. Three weeks into radiation, the tumor had completely vanished. I didn't have any lymph node involvement and that will complicate things a little bit, but they can radiate them also. In my case they did as a precautionary measure, as well as radiate the left tonsil.

I haven't smoked for many years however - please encourage him to quit now. He really doesn't need any additional risk of recurrence after treatment.

By the way, 25% of oral cancer patients never drank or smoked, so one can never be completely sure what the cause was. Recent studies also implicate certain viruses such as HPV or Epstein-Barr. I am sure that there are many other environmental factors as well.