Stage 4 Lung Cancer: 155 Real Stories
155 stories match lung cancer and stage 4. 104 of them mention targeted therapy.
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 ALK Lung Cancer: Leslie’s Patient Story
Leslie was active and teaching fitness classes when a persistent cough and worsening shortness of breath began to interfere with daily life. After repeated visits and treatments that did not help, swollen lymph nodes and increasing breathing difficulty led…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer Patient Story
An anonymized 35-year-old was living with Stage IV lung cancer 6 years after the cancer had spread to the liver, brain and bone. The illness had required repeated treatment, and the patient was receiving a 10th line of therapy. The specific medicines and…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Marnie’s Patient Story
Marnie Clark first noticed that one leg felt unusual. The problem became impossible to dismiss when the leg became paralyzed. Early tests focused on the leg and found nothing, so Marnie and her husband paid for additional examinations rather than continue…
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 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 ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
In the winter of 2018, a 31-year-old woman developed a lingering cough shortly after celebrating her first wedding anniversary with her husband, Jack. She was healthy, active, and had no major risk factors, but testing led to a diagnosis of Stage IV…
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 IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Rachael’s Patient Story
Rachael Malmberg was an Olympic athlete, an active-duty service member, and otherwise healthy when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Because she did not match the profile she expected, she began researching possible causes and learned about radon. Within 2…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient Story
In 2015, a close-knit family learned that their mother had Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer that had spread to her brain. She had been a deacon’s wife, a church piano player, a 30-year state employee, and the person who tirelessly cared for others. Her…
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 storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Laura’s Patient Story
Laura was 38 when a persistent cough, fatigue, congestion, and occasional coughing of blood led to imaging during a routine Veterans Administration visit in April 2023. A chest X-ray appeared to show a 6 mm nodule in her right lung, but a CT scan showed that…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer Patient Story
At age 30, while completing an oral and maxillofacial surgery residency, the patient developed worsening back pain, muscle spasms, difficulty walking, and numbness in the legs. An emergency MRI showed lesions throughout the spine and a compression fracture at…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Frank’s Survivor Story
Frank Sierawski was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in his 30s, when his three children were six, four, and two. The diagnosis affected the entire family. His children were young enough to remember little of the treatment, while his wife Kathryn carried…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Michelle’s Patient Story
Michelle had been living with ALK-positive lung cancer since 2018 when she developed persistent headaches, vomiting, ear popping, and a whooshing sound in her head. Remembering another patient who had developed leptomeningeal disease, she pressed for an…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Michael’s Patient Story
Michael O’Donnell is a Vietnam War veteran who receives his lung-cancer testing and treatment through the Dallas VA, with access to a lung-cancer specialist from UT Southwestern when needed. His cancer was Stage IV at diagnosis. He had smoked until two weeks…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Valerie’s Patient Story
Valerie Brown had symptoms for several months before a CT scan found an abnormality in her lung. A needle biopsy confirmed lung cancer, and she underwent a lobectomy in March 2012. Recovery was painful, but she reached five years with no evidence of disease…
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 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 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…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Jay’s Survivor Story
Jay Petri was diagnosed in 2008 and received clearer answers in fall 2009, when a good biopsy showed lung cancer with an ALK mutation. He understood that Stage IV lung cancer was probably terminal, and the diagnosis was followed by major personal loss when he…
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