What happened, in summary

Heidi was 55, a fitness trainer, and a lifelong health enthusiast when lung cancer was found by accident. In October 2018, she had a CT scan during evaluation of a mildly suspicious ovarian cyst. The ovary was benign, but the chest CT showed a lung mass and enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. Biopsy, staging, and review by 2 tumor boards confirmed inoperable Stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer. Heidi had no respiratory symptoms, no smoking history, and no targetable mutation, so her path centered on chemoradiation followed by immunotherapy. Starting November 14, 2018, she received 3 cycles of cisplatin and pemetrexed, given 21 days apart, together with 30 IMRT radiation treatments. After the 7th radiation treatment, imaging already showed major shrinkage. By December 26, very little tumor remained, the area was described as scar tissue, and the involved lymph nodes had disappeared. Heidi then started durvalumab infusions every other week on January 17, 2019. She completed 26 infusions over 1 year and officially ended treatment on January 8, 2020. Scans through January 2021 showed no evidence of disease. As of June 2026, Heidi’s story also centered on advocacy through The White Ribbon Project, challenging lung cancer stigma and showing that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.