What happened, in summary

Shannon was 35 when a cough lingered for about 1.5 months, followed by severe neck pain that did not respond to repeated muscle relaxers. The pain reached 7 or 8 out of 10, limited her ability to turn her head or pick up her children, and continued through her March 18, 2025 wedding in Puerto Rico. After she pushed for imaging, an MRI of the cervical spine showed tumors involving C1/C2 and C4/C6; the C1 lesion had cracked the bone. A CT scan then showed that most of one lung was covered by a 10.8 cm cancerous mass, with spread also seen in the liver. She was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Further testing found EGFR and TP53 mutations. Treatment started with radiation to the spine: 5 consecutive days, about 1.5 hours each session, using a mask bolted around her face. The radiation burned her throat so severely that she could not eat or drink normally for about 5 weeks. She then had 4 rounds of chemotherapy about every 6 weeks, with setbacks including an allergic reaction to an anti-nausea medicine, norovirus, pneumonia with a partially collapsed lung, and mycobacterial abscesses. As of June 2026, Shannon had no evidence of active disease and remained on a targeted therapy pill.