Lung Cancer: Jill's Patient Story

What happened, in summary

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 surgery was part of her early management. Because she was young, had a family history, and had young children, chemotherapy after surgery was considered even though the expected benefit was small. Biomarker testing changed the conversation. Jill explains that the results helped her team consider targeted or gene-directed therapy instead of simply following the older chemotherapy path. Jill’s specific biomarker and targeted therapy drug were not named. The video also includes physician education about biomarkers, tumor testing, blood testing, mutations, PD-L1, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and clinical trials; those teaching points are separate from Jill’s personal results. Jill says the cancer did keep coming back, but she believes targeted therapy may have slowed its growth and may have helped prevent or delay metastasis. As of December 2024, she described living with lung cancer for 15 years and credited research, biomarker testing, and targeted therapies with giving her more time, while also stressing that lung cancer care still has much further to go.