Tongue cancer is uncommon, and it's especially unusual for it to strike a young person who doesn't smoke or drink heavily. Kate Brown was just 32 years old, recently married and beginning a new job, when she learned that a spot on her tongue was stage 3 tongue cancer. Brown was referred to UCSF Health, where surgeons recommended a drastic treatment that was her best shot at survival: a total glossectomy, or tongue removal, followed by chemotherapy and radiation.