Stage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Megan's Survivor Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Subtype
- Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
- Biomarkers
- ALK-positive
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- Spine; chest lymph nodes; stomach lymph nodes
- Treatment
- targeted therapy
- Outcome
- Cancer-Free / NED
Treatment course, step by step
- ER workup found arm blood clots, pulmonary embolism, lung tumor, spine involvement, and chest/stomach lymph-node disease
- Lymph-node biopsy confirmed cancer, later identified as lung cancer
- Biomarker testing showed ALK-positive disease
- Chemotherapy was discussed but skipped
- Started daily ALK-targeted pills at a lower dose, planned indefinitely
- Symptoms improved within 10 days
- Follow-up scans showed 40% shrinkage, then more than 50% shrinkage, and latest scans showed no visible cancer.
What happened, in summary
Megan was 33, active, a never-smoker, and raising 2 young children when chest pain began. Urgent care and ER visits first led to explanations such as a pulled muscle or anxiety. Then she developed shortness of breath on walks, arm pain, and visible veins in her arm. An ER visit found extensive blood clots in her arms, a pulmonary embolism, a lung tumor, cancer in her spine, and disease in chest and stomach lymph nodes. A mediastinoscopy removed a lymph node for testing. It showed carcinoma, and about 2 weeks later she learned it was Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. Chemotherapy was discussed at first, but biomarker testing changed the path. Megan’s cancer was ALK-positive, which meant she could start a daily targeted therapy pill instead of traditional chemotherapy. She began at a lower dose and expected to stay on the pills indefinitely. The response was fast: within 10 days, she went from being couch-ridden and unable to read a children’s book without coughing to playing with her daughters again. Her first scans about 1.5 months later showed a 40% reduction in cancer, and later scans showed more than 50% gone. As of March 2026, Megan’s latest scans were described as no evidence of disease while she continued ALK-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.