Stage IV Lung Cancer: Angie's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Sex
- Female
- Treatment
- chemotherapy, supportive care and complementary therapy
- Outcome
- Care Ongoing
Treatment course, step by step
- Ongoing chemotherapy; individual, couples, and children’s counseling; children’s art therapy; acupuncture before chemotherapy.
- Drug regimen not reported.
What happened, in summary
Angie Brice Hessbruegge was 37 and raising 2 young children when she was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in May 2019. She had never smoked. Her daughter was 6 and her son was 4, and Angie quickly learned that cancer affected the whole household. She spoke honestly with the children, reassuring her daughter that a cold had not caused the cancer and explaining that chemotherapy was medicine intended to help her.
The family used individual counseling, couples counseling, and art therapy for the children to process fear and uncertainty. Angie tried to stay present for birthdays and everyday parenting, even as treatment disrupted family plans. When both children’s birthdays fell on her usual Wednesday chemotherapy day, she moved treatment to Thursday for her daughter. Late on the birthday, Angie developed gastrointestinal symptoms, hot flashes, fever, cold sweats, and severe weakness. At the clinic the next day, her temperature was 104 and her blood pressure was dangerously low, so chemotherapy was held while the team evaluated a likely infection.
Angie continued balancing treatment with difficult conversations about death, parenting, faith, and hope. Some days brought grief and fear; on others she drew strength from science, long-term survivor stories, and her children’s ability to live one day at a time. She also co-created a podcast with another mother living with cancer to discuss raising children during treatment.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by LUNGevity. 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.