Surgery for Lung Cancer: 100 Real Stories
100 stories match lung cancer and surgery. 47 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage II EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Daniel’s Patient Story
Daniel West had no symptoms before a routine heart scan in October 2022 showed 2 nodules in his right lung. A bronchoscopy biopsy confirmed early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Daniel, who had quit smoking in 2006, sought a second opinion at UT MD Anderson…
Read this storyStage III EGFR Lung Cancer: Roxanne’s Patient Story
Roxanne was 43, a single mother, and a special needs teacher when lung cancer was found almost by accident. She had gone to her gynecologist for abdominal pain that felt like an ovarian cyst. A CT scan did show a cyst, but it also caught part of her right…
Read this storyStage I EGFR Lung Cancer: Shira’s Survivor Story
Shira felt completely healthy. She was a lifelong runner, had no lung symptoms, and almost skipped the full-body MRI her husband kept encouraging her to do. The scan found a lung mass but described it as a minor finding if she had no symptoms. Her father, a…
Read this storyStage I Lung Cancer: Taylor’s Survivor Story
Taylor was 21 and a former Division I college soccer player when persistent symptoms kept being dismissed. She first struggled with numbness and tingling in her toes and could not pass a required fitness test, but testing did not explain it. About a year…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Ruchira’s Survivor Story
Ruchira had little reason to suspect lung cancer. She was young, healthy, a nonsmoker, and her cough was mild and intermittent. Her father first noticed it, but she ignored it for nearly a year. After she tested positive for COVID, a chest X-ray led to a CT…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Regina’s Survivor Story
Regina was active, newly married, and learning to swim when years of breathing symptoms finally led to a rare lung cancer diagnosis. For at least a couple of years, she knew something was wrong, but wheezing, coughing, and back pain were repeatedly explained…
Read this storyEGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Michelle’s Patient Story
Michelle Vacca’s lung cancer was found by accident in March 2017, when she went to the emergency room for an unrelated problem and chest scans showed a spot on her lung. She had never smoked and had no symptoms. Because the non-small cell lung cancer was…
Read this storyStage II EGFR Lung Cancer: Samantha’s Patient Story
Samantha Vaughn first noticed breathlessness and hoarseness after having COVID in 2022. For about 6 months, the symptoms were treated as long COVID, sinus problems, or infection, with inhalers, steroids, and antibiotics that did not help. In May 2023, she…
Read this storyStage III Lung Cancer: Alexis’s Survivor Story
Alexis was 29 and living in San Francisco when a possible heart issue led to the discovery of lung cancer. She had noticed shortness of breath and chest discomfort but thought anxiety might explain it. Because her father had been misdiagnosed with a genetic…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Alisa’s Patient Story
Alisa Secaida was 35 when cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, chest tightness and shoulder pain were dismissed as asthma or long COVID. She paid for her own CT scan, which showed a mass in the upper left lung, and later biopsy confirmed Stage IVB non-small…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Leah’s Patient Story
Leah Phillips, co-founder of the Young Lung Cancer Initiative, was diagnosed in December 2019 with Stage IV lung cancer carrying an EGFR exon 19 deletion. At diagnosis, her primary tumor was in the right middle lobe of the lung, and she had 13 bone metastases…
Read this storyStage IV KRAS Lung Cancer: Rosemary’s Patient Story
Rosemary Conway was 60 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2017 after developing a raspy voice and coughing up a small amount of blood. She had never smoked and was an active runner. In September, surgeons removed the lower lobe of her left lung…
Read this storyNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Donnita’s Survivor Story
Donnita was diagnosed at 68 with Stage IA2 non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma even though she had no symptoms. Years earlier, she had asked for a low-dose lung cancer screening CT because of her smoking history and family history. After a 5-year gap during…
Read this storyStage I Lung Cancer: Calvin’s Survivor Story
Calvin was 33 when he was diagnosed with Stage I lung cancer after years of breathing problems that had been treated as adult asthma. The pattern began around 2016, after he became very sick during work travel to Germany and was treated for pneumonia. Over…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Eugenia’s Patient Story
Eugenia Horan was 46 when she was diagnosed with poorly differentiated non-small cell lung cancer. Her symptoms began after what seemed like a cold or flu in late 2018, followed by chest tightness, coughing blood, weight loss, and a racing pulse. Her concerns…
Read this storyStage II ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Stephanie’s Survivor Story
Stephanie’s lung cancer story began with a mild cough in spring 2021. She thought it might be allergies or weather-related, but when it persisted, she mentioned it during a routine check-up. A chest X-ray showed a lung mass, and a CT scan showed a spiculated…
Read this storyStage II ALK Lung Adenocarcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie Williams developed a mild but persistent cough in spring 2021. At a yearly primary care visit, she asked for a chest X-ray. The image showed a cloudy area on her right side, and a same-day CT scan described a large spiculated mass that was highly…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Adenocarcinoma: Shirley’s Patient Story
Shirley was 34 when a cough and severe back pain were first treated as possible long COVID or pneumonia. Two bronchoscopies did not give answers. A wedge resection was then done to obtain tissue, and pathology showed adenocarcinoma. PET and MRI scans did not…
Read this storyLung Cancer: Jill’s Patient Story
Jill Feldman’s story is part patient experience and part education about lung cancer biomarkers. She was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009, when biomarker testing was still much more limited than it is today. Her cancer was initially Stage I, and…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Leah’s Patient Story
Leah Phillips never smoked, so a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis in December 2019 felt impossible. She was 43, with children ages 14, 13, and 9, and had been dealing with a persistent cough, unintentional weight loss, chest heaviness, and coughing up blood…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Filipe’s Patient Story
Filipe was 36 when a headache and blurred vision led to a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. A brain MRI showed 7 brain metastases, including a 4 cm lesion at the back of his head. CT imaging and biopsy confirmed lung cancer as the primary. Liver lesions were…
Read this storyNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Donnita’s Survivor Story
Donnita was 68 when she was diagnosed with Stage IA2 non-small cell lung cancer, adenocarcinoma. Her story appears in a group lung cancer awareness video with other speakers; this summary focuses only on Donnita’s personal experience. Donnita had a…
Read this storyEGFR Lung Cancer: Jill’s Survivor Story
Jill Feldman was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009 at age 39 after years of watching the disease affect her family. She lost 2 grandparents to lung cancer within weeks of each other, then her father died 3 months after his diagnosis at age 41. In her 20s…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Ashley’s Survivor Story
Ashley Vasallo was 36 when she shared her story, 2 years after being diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Before diagnosis, she had trouble swallowing, shortness of breath, stabbing chest pain, fatigue, vomiting, full-body swelling, clubbed…
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