What happened, in summary

Dr. Ross Camidge had spent more than 20 years treating and researching lung cancer when he became a patient himself. In May 2022, he noticed a pulled feeling in his left shoulder and an unusual breathing sound when lying on his right side. A chest X-ray showed something abnormal, and the CT scan was immediately clear to him: a right-lung mass, spots in the other lung, lymph nodes in the middle of the chest, and deposits affecting bone. He knew this was metastatic lung cancer. Over the next few days, he had a PET scan, brain MRI, lung biopsy, and mutation testing. By Tuesday morning, he knew the cancer had a specific mutation and knew which treatment he needed. He started mutation-directed pills that same afternoon, before the insurance process had finished. Later, his treatment also included chemotherapy and an added unnamed drug that caused severe side effects, including facial rash, scalp scabs, vomiting, and weight loss. The hardest part was telling his wife and daughters, then eventually his colleagues, after keeping the diagnosis private for nearly 3 years. As of November 2025, Dr. Camidge was living with Stage IV lung cancer, working, making memories with family, and framing life around each scan interval.