I was diagnosed in November 2010. The summer before I was in the car at a gas station. My husband was pumping gas. I was looking for something in the storage area beneath the armrest when my husband got back in the car, didn't notice me and his arm slammed the lid down on my cheek. The pain was intense. The next day I felt a small bump below the skin. I assumed it was because of the injury. Over time it did not go away so I thought scar tissue. Months later I awoke one morning and the bump was larger and slightly painful. I made an appointment with my ENT. He did a needle biopsy and was I diagnosed with parotid cancer. Within 4 weeks, after CT, MRI and PET scans, I underwent removal of the parotid gland and neck dissection surgery at Johns Hopkins. The lab results said poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. My margins and lymph nodes were clean. Underwent proton therapy radiation (never, ever again), but refused chemo. Other than a sore and growing bump I had no other symptoms. Only 10% of parotid cancer patients are female like me. I was 60 years old so that fit the criteria. Only my maternal grandfather died of cancer so really no familial connections. If not for the accident inside my car I would probably have died from this cancer as until that time I was symptom free.