Wow!? Large tumor on the neck.

They may be trying to shrink it before they remove it. Perhaps he goes to have radiation, and it isn't operable yet. It also might be a side effect of a treatment. There was this one guy who had cancer, and his treatment made one side of his neck appear to blow up. It was the oddest thing ever. Just one side of his neck expanded, it kind of looked like he needed something removed. Poor guy. That must be hard to go around with knowing it is so visible.

Sometimes it isn't possible to remove without complications, and sometimes people just don't have medical insurance--I would suspect that this would require a hospital stay

Could be medical costs are high?

You're lucky you dont have his condition. He's going strong, maybe he doesn't have money for the surgery.