Stage IV ALK Lung Cancer: Kathrin's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- ALK-positive
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- bones including left foot, liver, abdomen/belly
- Treatment
- radiation and targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Responding Well
Treatment course, step by step
- Bronchoscopy biomarker testing showed ALK-positive lung cancer
- First treatment was radiation to the left foot metastasis
- Second treatment was a once-daily targeted therapy pill; drug name was unclear in the source and was not normalized
- She stayed on the pill long term
- Dose was reduced from 100 mg to 75 mg because of side effects including weight gain, mood changes, neuropathy, and bloating
- PET imaging about 8 weeks after treatment showed almost everything was gone.
What happened, in summary
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 was not a primary bone tumor but a metastasis. PET imaging then showed Stage IV lung cancer that had spread widely, including to the bones, liver, and abdomen or belly. She said it was not in her head and not in her lymph nodes. Biomarker testing after bronchoscopy showed ALK-positive lung cancer, which made targeted therapy possible. Her first treatment was radiation to the left foot. Within a few days, the pain improved enough that she could walk again. Her second treatment was a once-daily targeted therapy pill that she expected to stay on for the rest of her life. After about 8 weeks, a PET scan showed that almost everything was gone, a response that felt like being given a second life. The dose was later reduced from 100 mg to 75 mg because of side effects, including weight gain, mood changes, neuropathy, and bloating. As of July 2025, Kathrin was responding well while continuing lifelong targeted therapy.
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.