Stage IV Lung Cancer: Anne's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- Mutation identified by next-generation sequencing; specific mutation not reported
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- Spine; hips; lymph nodes; liver
- Treatment
- targeted therapy and radiation
- Outcome
- Living With Cancer
Treatment course, step by step
- Tumor sequencing found a mutation/marker that allowed daily oral targeted treatment
- She took the daily pill for about the first year
- Radiation treatment in San Diego was mentioned later
- Radiation site and drug name were not specified.
What happened, in summary
Anne LaPorte spent decades as a nurse and had already lived through lung cancer as a caregiver. Her father was diagnosed with very advanced lung cancer in 2008 and died after moving to hospice. In 2017, her daughter was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma that had spread to the right lung and successfully completed treatment. As her daughter recovered, Anne developed severe back pain and later began losing sensation in her legs. MRI showed diffuse metastatic disease throughout her spine and hips, with metastases also in lymph nodes and the liver. She was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and initially felt she had very limited treatment options. Anne pushed for next-generation sequencing of her tumor, because mutation testing can identify treatment paths that standard care may miss. That testing found a marker, and she was able to take an oral medication, 1 pill a day, for about the first year. She contrasted that with her father’s chemotherapy experience years earlier. The video also mentions later radiation care in San Diego, though the radiation site is not specified. As of November 2021, Anne was living with metastatic lung cancer, focused on advocacy, earlier detection, and making lung cancer a chronic disease for more patients.
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.