Chemotherapy for Lung Cancer: 115 Real Stories
115 stories match lung cancer and chemotherapy. 60 of them mention radiation.
Stage IV Lung Cancer: Joanne’s Patient Story
Joanne Sabol was 65 when a lump in her neck led to imaging and a biopsy in July 2005. She was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and was initially told that palliative care was her only option. Joanne sought a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Carla’s Patient Story
Carla lived with lung cancer that repeatedly developed resistance to treatment. For long periods, her symptoms were limited mainly to coughing and manageable fatigue. In January 2015, while taking third-line afatinib, she married Bud and moved to Manila to…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Lyn’s Patient Story
Lyn Smith’s lung-cancer diagnosis forced her to confront mortality, stigma, and a major change in her role within the family. She had spent much of her life caring for other people, including her 4 adult daughters, and initially found it difficult to let…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Katherine’s Patient Story
Katherine “Kat” Adelufosi initially dismissed a lingering illness, but symptoms persisted for weeks and led to tests and scans. On October 24, she learned that she had Stage IV lung cancer. The diagnosis was especially unexpected because she had never smoked…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
Mary Lynn Moser lived through 15 years of cancer, including 5 years with breast cancer and nearly 10 years with lung cancer. A radiologist noticed a lung spot while reading a mammogram, allowing the lung cancer to be detected at Stage III rather than after…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Sharon’s Patient Story
Sharon Schneider was diagnosed with a rare ALK-positive lung cancer in April 2017. She had previously completed 7 half marathons along with several 15K and 5K races, but cancer treatment and blood clots in her brain forced her to stop running. Later that…
Read this storyStage III KRAS Lung Cancer: Bill’s Survivor Story
Bill Morris was diagnosed in 2021 with Stage IIIB KRAS G12D lung cancer after 9 months of misdiagnosis. His treatment included 10 rounds of chemotherapy, 30 rounds of radiation, and 10 months in an immunotherapy clinical trial. During the same period, his…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Angie’s Patient Story
Angie Brice Hessbruegge was 37 and raising 2 young children when she was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in May 2019. She had never smoked. Her daughter was 6 and her son was 4, and Angie quickly learned that cancer affected the whole household. She spoke…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Bob’s Patient Story
Bob Neary was diagnosed with lung cancer in July 2012 at age 63. He underwent radiation and chemotherapy, but died from the disease 7 months later in February 2013. His father had also died from lung cancer at the same age. Bob was a husband, father…
Read this storyEGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
In February 2021, an emergency evaluation for a possible abdominal problem unexpectedly found a mass in the upper lobe of the right lung. Further testing led to a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer adenocarcinoma. Tumor testing identified an EGFR exon 19…
Read this storySmall Cell Lung Cancer: Nina’s Patient Story
Nina was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer in early 2014. She began standard chemotherapy and radiation and continued through about 14 months of treatment. The treatments caused side effects, including hearing loss, and eventually stopped controlling the…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Martine’s Survivor Story
Martine was 66 and recently retired when she told her lung cancer story. Her diagnosis dated back to summer 2018, after severe pain in her spine and back kept waking her at night and did not improve with anti-inflammatory medication. A blood test showed…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Mary’s Patient Story
Mary first went to her doctor in January 2021 because she was short of breath. At first, the problem seemed like it might be an infection. Her doctor still sent her for blood tests and a chest X-ray. The blood tests were clear, but the X-ray showed a shadow…
Read this storyStage IV Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
This story was shared by a pharmacist caring for her uncle after he was diagnosed in July 2020 with inoperable small cell lung cancer. Doctors estimated a life expectancy of 7 months with chemotherapy. Alongside chemotherapy, his caregiver introduced…
Read this storyStage IV Small Cell Lung Cancer: Sylvane’s Patient Story
Sylvane was 71 when a persistent dry cough in May 2020 led to a new cancer diagnosis. She had survived breast cancer 27 years earlier, in 1993, after chemotherapy, radiation, removal of the left breast, and removal of the lymph-node chain. This time, COVID…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer Patient Story
This story was shared by the sister of a woman with aggressive lung cancer and bone metastases. The cancer involved the skull and spine and had caused a clavicle fracture. Around the same time, doctors also found a localized 4 cm breast cancer. She received…
Read this storyLung Cancer: François’s Survivor Story
François was 62 when he shared his experience of lung cancer. The first clear warning sign came at work, when he coughed blood into a white tissue. He waited 4 days before telling his wife, Françoise, because he did not want to frighten her. His doctor…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Liz’s Survivor Story
Alexia was 23 when her mother, Liz, was diagnosed with lung cancer. As Liz’s eldest daughter, Alexia remembers the first reaction as anger, confusion, and fear. The word cancer immediately brought thoughts of death because her grandfather had lung cancer at…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Liz’s Patient Story
Jacques tells the story of his wife Liz’s lung cancer from the caregiver perspective. They had been together for 25 years when the diagnosis arrived. Jacques remembers the shock of hearing the words lung cancer and seeing Liz’s fear as they left the doctor’s…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Agnès’s Patient Story
Agnès was 59 when lung cancer was diagnosed after a trip with her husband Daniel in summer 2016. She began coughing heavily and first thought she had caught a cold from traveling with air conditioning. Her family doctor became concerned because the lower part…
Read this storyNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Jode’s Patient Story
Jode tells the caregiver story of her husband, who was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in 2010 and was initially given only 3 to 6 months to live. He received 33 cycles of chemotherapy over 1 year. During that first year, he was often bedridden, did…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Julie’s Survivor Story
Julie was 73 and already knew what cancer treatment could mean, having survived lymphoma in 2004. In February 2015, she developed what seemed like the flu, but her fever stayed high. Her general practitioner ordered a chest X-ray, then quickly connected her…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Carole’s Survivor Story
Carole shares the lung cancer experience of her mother, who was 83 when the illness was discovered. During the winter of 2015, her mother had a long-lasting cold or flu-like illness and did not feel well. Because she had previously had lymphoma in 2004, the…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Thierry’s Survivor Story
Thierry was 55 when unusual neurologic symptoms led to his lung cancer diagnosis in May 2014. He had headaches for a week, seemed “strange” to people around him, struggled to handle objects, felt numbness around his mouth, and behaved unusually while driving…
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