What happened, in summary

Anne spent 35 years as a nurse and had already cared for her father through advanced lung cancer when she began having back pain in 2019. She initially blamed the pain on triathlon training and adjusted her exercise, but it kept worsening. Over the next 8 months, the pain became severe and she began losing sensation in her legs. She continued pushing for answers until an MRI was finally performed.

The scan showed widespread stage IV lung cancer. Disease was present throughout her spine and hips and had also spread to lymph nodes and her liver. Anne feared that she was dying and recorded messages for family and friends, including a deeply personal goodbye for her daughter, who had previously been treated for stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma.

Anne then fought for comprehensive tumor testing. The testing found an EGFR mutation, making her eligible for an oral targeted medicine rather than traditional chemotherapy. She took one pill a day. For about 1 year, she maintained a good quality of life without regular infusions or hair loss—a much less physically punishing experience than her father had faced more than 10 years earlier.

She later entered a clinical trial. Anne also became an outspoken advocate for biomarker testing, earlier detection, research funding and an end to the stigma that links every lung cancer diagnosis with smoking. As a nonsmoker whose family history had repeatedly been dismissed, she emphasizes that anyone with lungs can develop lung cancer. She hopes research may extend her life and protect her daughter and future patients.