Our girl Amanda Reeder is in trouble.On November 29th she was diagnosed with tongue cancer. This cancer is caused by an auto-immune disease she has called oral lichen planus. The affected area on her tongue is 3cm, it also appears to have spread to the lymph nodes in her neck. Right now we don’t know a prognosis, however here is the plan so far. On December 16th she will have surgery in St. Louis, they will remove the spot on her tongue. Due to its size they will have to do a muscle graft, they will open up her arm and remove a piece of muscle. They will then attach this piece of muscle to her tongue and run the blood vessels to it and down her neck. After this part of the surgery they will remove 4 lymph nodes, 2 on each side of her neck. They will then run 3 separate drains and put in a feeding tube. Then they will biopsy the lymph nodes, which will give her a prognosis and if any chemo, radiation, or further surgeries will be needed. There is also a possibility that she will have to have a tracheotomy. The arm she has the muscle removed from will have to be in a sling for a month. She will spend at least 7 days in the hospital, if all goes well and she is able to eat and drink on day 8 she will be allowed to return home to recover. We are wanting to raise money to help with medical bills, travel expenses, and time she will miss from work. Please follow her story on caringbridge @ https://www.caringbridge.org/public/amandareeder   Any amount will be greatly appreciated.