Thanks everyone. Here is a bit more about him.

My husband is 52 and was a long time smoker (28 years) and fairly heavy drinker (6 pack beer a night) but quit both cold turkey 9 years ago, a few years after we met/married.

He is a healthy person, not overweight and works out at the gym regularly as well as playing golf all Spring/Summer. He is rarely sick and has never been hospitalized.

He does not work in a hazardous environment being a realtor now and an onsite computer technician previously, although has been a very heavy cell phone user for approximately 10 years (on the same side as the cancer - I have read some articles indicating a possible connection).

There seems also to be many articles suggesting a link between HPV and oral cancer. Neither of us have been tested for this, but I plan to ask my own doctor to test me as I'm interested to know if this could be a possibility in his case.