What happened, in summary

James “Rocky” Lagno developed a persistent dry cough around Thanksgiving 2010. As his breathing worsened and he began coughing up blood, lung cancer became a concern. He was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer and went to Boston for intravenous chemotherapy and daily radiation. Follow-up scans showed that his tumors were growing rather than shrinking.

Rocky and his wife, Geralynn, pursued another biopsy and genetic testing, which identified an ALK mutation. He started the ALK-targeted drug crizotinib, which controlled his tumors for several months before it stopped working. By then, his lung cancer had spread to his brain, meaning he was living with Stage IV disease.

Rocky was referred for a clinical trial of another ALK-targeted drug, ceritinib, but brain metastases and a separate primary thyroid cancer made him ineligible. Instead, he received ceritinib through compassionate use. The first weeks brought nausea and gastrointestinal problems while the dose was adjusted. After that, his condition stabilized. He reported that his disease had remained stable since the middle of 2013 and that his quality of life had returned close to its pre-diagnosis level, although he did not expect to be cancer-free.