What happened, in summary

Usha Jain, a retired UC Berkeley professor, was diagnosed in July 2018 with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer despite having no smoking history. Her daughter, Amita Jain, was both a physician and caregiver, yet still found the lung cancer decision-making process complex and overwhelming. Usha’s treatment path included chemotherapy and immunotherapy for nearly 2 years. After that, she stopped treatment and moved into a period of routine scans and watchful monitoring. That pause in active treatment felt difficult for the family because doing “nothing” did not feel passive when the diagnosis was still Stage IV lung cancer. Amita contacted GO2’s LungMATCH navigation program and shared her mother’s tumor genetic profile. The navigators responded with information about possible clinical trials. Usha ultimately chose not to pursue those trials, but the information helped the family understand the options and feel more prepared for conversations with the care team. Specific mutation results and trial treatment were not reported as received care. Usha’s status is best captured as ongoing care after chemotherapy and immunotherapy, with routine scans and informed monitoring rather than a cancer-free outcome.