Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer: 140 Real Stories
140 stories match lung cancer and targeted therapy. 49 of them mention chemotherapy.
Stage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in December 2024, shortly after turning 44. She had been healthy, working full time, raising 2 teenage daughters, and recovering from COVID when a hacking cough returned. She treated it like a…
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 storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Tina’s Patient Story
Tina Powell shared her experience as a Stage IV lung cancer patient on her 3-year cancerversary. The story focuses on scan anxiety, but it also gives key details about her current care. As of January 2026, she was being treated on a clinical trial at Memorial…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer Patient Story
This unnamed man had a medical and pharmaceutical background before becoming a patient himself. At 44, he previously faced cancer, and years later he developed another serious cancer diagnosis. The lung cancer story began with severe bone pain that he first…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Jennifer’s Patient Story
Jennifer’s Stage IV lung cancer was found almost by accident. She had been in a car accident that revealed a lung spot, but she did not learn about it until 10 months later. When she later saw her primary care doctor for what she thought was a sinus…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Tina’s Patient Story
Tina Powell is living with Stage IV lung cancer and uses her Lung Cancer Strong channel to explain chemotherapy from the patient side. By November 2025, she had received 27 rounds of chemotherapy in different combinations over 3 years. She named pemetrexed…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Ross’s Patient Story
Dr. Ross Camidge had spent more than 20 years treating and researching lung cancer when he became a patient himself. In May 2022, he noticed a pulled feeling in his left shoulder and an unusual breathing sound when lying on his right side. A chest X-ray…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer Patient Story
This unnamed woman’s lung cancer journey began with leg swelling. She first received water-reducing medication, but the swelling continued and eventually involved more of her body. Doctors became concerned about her heart, found fluid around the heart area…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Laura’s Patient Story
Laura, from Camden, South Carolina, was in her late 30s when she was diagnosed in May 2023 with Stage IV ALK-positive non-small cell lung cancer. The earliest warning sign was a cough that lasted almost a year. It was mild and mostly in the morning, so it did…
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 IV ROS1 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Drea’s Patient Story
Drea was 26, a never-smoker, and living in Florida when a series of unexplained symptoms led to a Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer diagnosis. It began with a DVT that caused a swollen ankle. Over the next 4 to 5 months, she developed unexplained bruising…
Read this storyStage IV ROS1 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Lysa’s Patient Story
Lysa was 40, raising 2 children, working, and finishing college when severe mid-back pain during travel led to a Stage IV lung cancer diagnosis. At first, an ER visit treated the pain like a muscle problem, but the pain kept returning and eventually became so…
Read this storyStage IV EGFR Lung Cancer: Emily’s Patient Story
Emily was active and healthy when a cough that began in fall 2023 kept lingering. By August 31, 2024, shortness of breath on a familiar hike and a changing voice made her seek care. A chest X-ray showed nodules, and a CT scan led to the call no one wants: the…
Read this storyStage IV HER2-Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Lauren’s Patient Story
Lauren was 31, raising a young son, when fatigue, back pain, chest/rib pain, and widespread joint pain became impossible to ignore. Early emergency-room visits did not find the cancer; she was treated for pneumonia and then evaluated for other possible…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Shauna’s Patient Story
Shauna had just turned 51 when a cough lingered for months after a respiratory illness. During a lunch break, she went to urgent care, where an X-ray showed a mass in her right lung. A needle biopsy and scans followed, including brain MRI, PET, chest CT, and…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Steven’s Patient Story
Steven Huff was 29, newly engaged, and starting a teaching career when shortness of breath, a daily cough, and a lump near his collarbone led to a lung cancer diagnosis. Doctors told him he had Stage IV non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma, with cancer in both…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Adenocarcinoma: Allison’s Patient Story
Allison was an active 45-year-old mother of 2 when back pain that seemed muscular turned into a much larger warning sign. A CT report mentioned possible metastatic lesions in her spine. More testing followed, including chest imaging, MRI, brain imaging, PET…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Kathrin’s Patient Story
Kathrin was a fitness professional living in Munich when fatigue and foot pain began to interrupt an active life. At first, the foot pain seemed like a sports injury from yoga or exercise. Imaging of the left foot showed a tumor, and biopsy revealed that it…
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 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: Natasha’s Patient Story
Natasha, a primary school teacher from Yorkshire, England, was diagnosed with EGFR-positive lung cancer in January 2023 after months of cough, hoarse voice, and squeaky breathing. She was active and had never expected lung cancer, especially as a nonsmoker…
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 ROS1 Lung Adenocarcinoma: Luna’s Patient Story
Luna Okada was 54 when she was diagnosed in December 2012 with Stage IV lung adenocarcinoma. She had just returned from climbing Machu Picchu and had no cough or shortness of breath. Two days after the trip, severe abdominal pain brought her to the emergency…
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…
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