Stage IV Lung Cancer: Agnès's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- Tumor mutation identified; specific alteration not named
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- chemotherapy and targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Responding Well
Treatment course, step by step
- Summer 2016 cough after travel
- chest X-ray and CT showed lung nodules
- respiratory distress and hospital admission
- bronchoscopy confirmed cancer
- weekly hospital visits for imaging, bloodwork, and first chemotherapy
- tumor mutation identified, allowing home-based treatment with hospital checks every 2 weeks; some metastases and one nodule completely disappeared.
What happened, in summary
Agnès was 59 when lung cancer was diagnosed after a trip with her husband Daniel in summer 2016. She began coughing heavily and first thought she had caught a cold from traveling with air conditioning. Her family doctor became concerned because the lower part of the left lung could not be heard on exam. A chest X-ray and then CT scan showed nodules in the lung. Agnès then developed respiratory distress and was urgently taken to the hospital, where her pulmonologist kept her admitted. Bronchoscopy samples later confirmed cancer. At first, her condition worsened quickly. She could no longer walk or breathe normally, was nearly in a wheelchair, and had to sleep sitting up. She went to the hospital weekly for imaging, blood tests, and her first chemotherapy. When additional test results came back, doctors found that the cancer had a mutation that allowed treatment at home, with hospital checks every 2 weeks for imaging, electrocardiogram, and bloodwork. Her condition improved rapidly: she could walk, breathe, and sleep lying down again. Some metastases and one nodule disappeared completely. By the May 2024 site update, Agnès was still fighting for total remission and celebrated every regression as a victory with Daniel and their family.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by Vivre avec un Cancer du Poumon. 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.