What happened, in summary

Jennifer Robertson was 46 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV small cell lung cancer in fall 2024. The diagnosis came after severe hip pain revealed a broken hip bone, and a bone marrow biopsy showed the fracture was caused by cancer. PET imaging found a hidden lung tumor beneath her breastbone. Scans also showed spread to her collar bones, shoulder blades, femur, pancreas, and adrenal glands. Jennifer first sought care locally, but a severe reaction to an unnamed treatment left her afraid to continue there. At MD Anderson, her oncologist suspected the reaction was linked to a particular immunotherapy drug and recommended tarlatamab-dlle, a newer targeted immunotherapy option for advanced small cell lung cancer. Jennifer began tarlatamab infusions in March 2025. After 3 rounds, scans showed many lesions had either shrunk or disappeared. Then brain disease appeared quickly: more than 40 lesions were seen, and 2 were becoming tumors. Her team arranged 14 sessions of whole-brain radiation over 3 weeks in summer 2025, then restarted tarlatamab. By August, her scans were clear except for a few tiny spots described as dead tissue. As of February 2026, she had shown no evidence of disease since then, while continuing tarlatamab every other Monday and returning to MD Anderson every 3 months for scans.