Stage IV Lung Cancer: Mary's Patient Story
This lung cancer diagnosis at a glance
- Stage at diagnosis
- Stage IV
- Sex
- Female
- Spread to
- brain
- Treatment
- surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy
- Outcome
- In Memory
Treatment course, step by step
- Three lung surgeries; chemotherapy; 6 stereotactic radiation procedures for 23 brain metastases; brain surgery for recurrent lesions; later aggressive immunotherapy plus chemotherapy.
What happened, in summary
Mary Lynn Moser lived through 15 years of cancer, including 5 years with breast cancer and nearly 10 years with lung cancer. A radiologist noticed a lung spot while reading a mammogram, allowing the lung cancer to be detected at Stage III rather than after further spread.
Her lung-cancer treatment included 3 lung surgeries and chemotherapy. After the cancer reached her brain, she underwent 6 stereotactic radiation procedures for 23 brain metastases, followed by brain surgery for recurrent lesions. More than 5 years into living with brain metastases, she was receiving an aggressive combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
Mary Lynn wrote about meeting another patient while waiting for her second brain-metastasis treatment. That encounter strengthened her commitment to faith, mentorship, and listening to others with lung cancer. Her husband, Tom, served as a dedicated caregiver and advocate, and Mary Lynn continued encouraging patients to be not only survivors but “thrivers” before her death.
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.