The picture you have described seems to suggest that your relative has a cancerous lymph node in the neck. Lymph nodes are glands normally found in all parts of the body. They become cancerous not by themselves but when there is cancer in their neighbourhood. So, the root of the actual cancer must be somewhere else (voice box, food pipe, thyroid, lungs etc). It is possible for a patient to have such a node for long particularly in slow growing tumors. All i can say is that had she sought treatment earlier she might have been detected at an early stage and cured. It is beacause she has harboured the disease for so long that it has reached the terminal stage. Harsh words, i am sorry, but the reality.Hope this helps