Stage IV Lung Cancer: Bill's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Biomarkers
- Genomic testing performed; specific result not reported
- Sex
- Male
- Spread to
- Brain; liver; bone/humerus
- Treatment
- surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and biomarker testing
- Outcome
- Responding Well
Treatment course, step by step
- 2 gamma knife brain surgeries for brain tumors
- chemotherapy using 7 different medications with severe fatigue and loss of energy
- orthopedic surgery removing part of the humerus below the shoulder after bone metastasis
- genomic testing to look for tailored treatment options
- immunotherapy every 2 weeks, with all tumors shrinking and chemotherapy stopped.
What happened, in summary
Bill Smith had no symptoms when a routine preoperative physical in 2010 led his doctor to order a chest X-ray and refer him to a lung specialist. He was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. A full-body scan also found 2 tumors in his brain, and he had gamma knife brain surgery followed by chemotherapy. Later, doctors found a cancerous tumor in his liver. Severe shoulder pain then revealed that the cancer had also spread to bone. In all, Bill had 2 gamma knife brain surgeries and orthopedic surgery to remove part of his humerus below the shoulder. He was treated with 7 different chemotherapy medications, but the fatigue and loss of energy became overwhelming. When chemotherapy became too much, his team recommended genomic testing to see whether a more tailored option might help. Immunotherapy changed his quality of life quickly. As of October 2016, Bill was receiving immunotherapy every 2 weeks, with no chemotherapy or radiation treatments at that time. He said all of his tumors had shrunk and the treatment seemed to have the cancer under control. He described feeling as if he were living again and credited his Cleveland Clinic care team with helping him feel supported while continuing treatment for Stage IV lung cancer.
Where this story comes from
This is a lay summary of an account first published by Cleveland Clinic. 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.