Stage I Lung Cancer: Taylor's Survivor Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage I
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- surgery and surveillance
- Outcome
- Cancer-Free / NED
Treatment course, step by step
- At age 21, CT during an ER visit unexpectedly found a 4 cm mass in the left lung and partial lung collapse
- Diagnosis was Stage IB carcinoid tumor in the left upper lung
- Second opinion at Duke confirmed surgery was the main treatment; no systemic drug options were described in 2007
- Minimally invasive left upper lobectomy removed the upper lobe and lingula through small incisions
- Margins were clear, so no chemotherapy or radiation was needed
- Surveillance scans were every 3 months at first, then every 6 months after year 1, then yearly after about year 3
- Routine CT monitoring stopped around year 13 after shared decision-making.
What happened, in summary
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 later, she developed recurrent pneumonia. Her mother pushed for a CT scan because of a family history of lung cancer, but Taylor was told young athletes did not get lung cancer. A chest X-ray was read as fine, though later review showed follow-up had been recommended. The answer came by chance during an ER visit for severe abdominal pain. A CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis showed her abdomen was okay, but part of her lung was not: she had a 4 cm mass in the left lung that had nearly collapsed it. Taylor was diagnosed with a Stage IB carcinoid tumor in the left upper lobe. Her parents pushed for a second opinion, and she went to Duke for thoracic surgery. In 2007, surgery was the main treatment option for this type of carcinoid tumor. She had a minimally invasive left upper lobectomy with the lingula removed. Recovery was painful, but margins were clean, so she did not need chemotherapy or radiation. As of February 2026, Taylor was 18 years post-diagnosis, a mother, and an advocate against lung cancer stigma.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by The Patient Story. Read the original in full
These are lay summaries of published cancer stories, for information only. No two cancers behave the same way, and nothing here predicts your own diagnosis or replaces advice from your oncology team.