Hi everyone. I'm a 26 yr old female. My mother recently had a biopsy done of her throat.. Not sure exactly what they call it , but she has a tumor between her voice box and vocal cords. She has been a heavy smoker since she was 18 and is now 46. I have a brother and sister, 15 and 16. My sister stays home with my mom and doesn't go to school. I moved to Nebraska 2 yrs ago and am 12 hrs away. All of this has happned so quickly. She just found out it was cancer a few days ago and she has surgery on the 24th. She didn't want me to know how bad it was but my grandmother called me tonight and said that my mother has to have a voice box, a permanant trach and a feeding tube put in.. I had no idea that it was it was this bad. I'm trying to get home to be there for surgery but money is tight. This is all so overwhelming. I don't know all the details about the type or stage of her cancer but I can't imagine what My siblings and I would do without her. She says everything will be fine but she doesn't know what is really going to happen. I just lost my grandpa to cancer in 06 and my uncle to it on the opposite side of the family, last night. I'm worried sick and it seems throat cancer has a high death rate. So, I guess i'm just looking for ppl that have been through this to give me some information about the whole process and what will happen..