pembrolizumab: 25 Real Stories
25 stories match pembrolizumab. 24 of them mention immunotherapy.
Stage IV Lung Cancer: Joanne’s Patient Story
Joanne Sabol was 65 when a lump in her neck led to imaging and a biopsy in July 2005. She was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer and was initially told that palliative care was her only option. Joanne sought a second opinion at Memorial Sloan Kettering…
Read this storyStage II BRCA1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma: Stephanie’s Patient Story
Stephanie Hargis was 25 when she found a painful lump in her right breast in March 2022. With no family history and her young age, she and her clinicians first thought it might be an inflamed lymph node. Ultrasound and biopsy instead showed Stage II…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy was diagnosed with Stage IV squamous non-small cell lung cancer on her birthday. About 2 weeks after a flu shot, a lymph node appeared in her neck. At first, she thought it might be a vaccine reaction or infection, but after another 2 weeks she saw her…
Read this storyStage IV MSI-High Colorectal Cancer: JJ’s Patient Story
JJ was 27 when months of abdominal pain, bowel problems, vomiting and rapid weight loss led to an emergency CT scan and colonoscopy. Surgery removed about 80% of his colon and 36 inches of small intestine. He needed a second operation during a 16-day hospital…
Read this storyStage II Ovarian Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Caitlin’s Survivor Story
Caitlin Koehler was 27 when a year of severe abdominal pain finally led to CT imaging that found an 11 cm mass on her right ovary. She underwent removal of the right ovary and fallopian tube, and pathology showed Stage II squamous cell carcinoma arising in a…
Read this storyStage IV Melanoma: Ken’s Survivor Story
Ken Herich had watched a growth on his right hand for about 10 years before an old friend, a retired physician, warned him it looked like melanoma. Doctors initially believed it was melanoma in situ, and in mid-2019 Ken had a wide excision with clear nearby…
Read this storyStage III MSI-High Colorectal Cancer: Tommy’s Survivor Story
Tommy Allen was 57 when severe stomach pain and bright red blood in his stool led to a colon cancer diagnosis. He first had surgery in June 2019 near home in Alabama, but the surgeon could not remove all the cancer because the tumor was wrapped around…
Read this storyStage III Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Lynn’s Survivor Story
Lynn Leiro was 36 when back pain, fatigue and then a lump in her armpit led to a Stage IIIC triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis in 2022. Imaging showed five breast tumors and a swollen lymph node; a later CT scan found more cancerous lymph nodes in her…
Read this storyStage IV ALK Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Alisa’s Patient Story
Alisa Secaida was 35 when cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, chest tightness and shoulder pain were dismissed as asthma or long COVID. She paid for her own CT scan, which showed a mass in the upper left lung, and later biopsy confirmed Stage IVB non-small…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Eugenia’s Patient Story
Eugenia Horan was 46 when she was diagnosed with poorly differentiated non-small cell lung cancer. Her symptoms began after what seemed like a cold or flu in late 2018, followed by chest tightness, coughing blood, weight loss, and a racing pulse. Her concerns…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer: Natalie’s Patient Story
Natalie Brown was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer in June 2020 after about 6 months of testing, including X-rays, CT scans, PET scans and several biopsies. She had been dismissed at times because of her age and lack of smoking history. During one biopsy…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Adenocarcinoma: Nick’s Patient Story
Nick Sprague, a firefighter and critical care paramedic, was diagnosed with colorectal adenocarcinoma at age 48 after 1 to 2 years of bowel changes, blood in the stool, abdominal pain, reflux-like symptoms, and fatigue. An emergency visit first led to a…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Lenny’s Survivor Story
Lenny was diagnosed with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer in November 2019. He had never smoked. His first warning signs were a change in his walking, pain in his right leg, and later coughing and wheezing that felt different from his usual mild asthma…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Tim’s Patient Story
Tim Monds was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016 after chest and left-shoulder pain led to imaging and then further testing. He was 57, had never smoked, and initially had Stage I disease. Surgery removed the upper left lobe of his lung on 29 June 2016, and…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: Dania’s Patient Story
Dania Martinez was 35, married, and a mother of 3 when a week of unusual abdominal pain and bloating led her to the emergency room in September 2022. She had long dealt with food-related bloating and constipation, so at first she thought the pain might be…
Read this storyStage IV Colorectal Cancer: JJ’s Patient Story
JJ was 27 when months of stomach pain led to an initial Stage II / borderline Stage III colon cancer diagnosis. Surgery removed about 80% of his colon and about 36 inches of small intestine because of how the tumor had grown. He also received 6 rounds of…
Read this storyStage IV MET Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy’s third video focuses on living with Stage IV squamous cell lung cancer after several years of treatment. During her earlier Keytruda treatment period, she developed a painful bone metastasis in the femur and hips. The pain became severe enough that she…
Read this storyStage IV MET Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy’s second video explains how biomarker testing changed the direction of her Stage IV squamous cell lung cancer care. Her first treatment was Keytruda, also called pembrolizumab, given as a monthly infusion. After each infusion, she received Xgeva to…
Read this storyStage IV MET Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Amy’s Patient Story
Amy’s first video starts with the diagnosis that changed her life in 2018. She had noticed a swollen lymph node for about 1 month and finally saw her primary care doctor. Bloodwork did not explain it, so she was sent for CT imaging of the lymph node. The scan…
Read this storyStage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Abby’s Survivor Story
Abby Kanarek was 60 when a backache led to an X-ray that showed a lung mass. Soon after, temporary leg numbness and loss of movement on the left side of her body sent her to emergency care, where scans found the lung mass plus a large brain tumor and 5…
Read this storyNon-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Rachel’s Survivor Story
Rachel Chua Bradley was 50 when she was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer and treated near home in northern Virginia. A few years later, the cancer came back. Rachel, an ICU nurse, wanted more information and a plan she trusted, so she went to MD…
Read this storyStage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Renee’s Patient Story
Renee Shine was 63 when a routine checkup on Christmas Eve 2012 led to a chest X-ray and CT scan that found a mass in her right lung. A biopsy confirmed adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer, with extensive lymph-node involvement. She was…
Read this storyStage III Ovarian Cancer: Dianne’s Patient Story
Dianne Simpson was 73 when she completed treatment for Stage III high-grade serous ovarian cancer in April 2017. Her symptoms had started months earlier with worsening pain, bloating and difficulty sleeping. Initial evaluations did not identify the cause, but…
Read this storyStage IV Lung Cancer Patient Story
This Noxte entry captured the mixed emotions of a scan that brought both relief and fear. The patient had a CT on 22 August and reviewed the result with oncology on 26 August. Some findings were encouraging: a paratracheal lymph node was stable, small right…
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