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  1. I've seen the star of Bethlehem, very early on Christmas morning. While peacekeeping in Egypt's Sinai Desert, I would run before daybreak as soldiers are prone to do. Although the desert is quite cold in December, dawn running was a habit hard to break. I ran the camp perimeter to check the defensive positions and greet soldiers enjoying the banter in three different languages. Starting in the south perimeter and running counterclockwise, the predawn western sky was dark except for the stars that were so clear, they were painted on the black night sky. Passing along the northern perimeter, the sky lightened and my expectation was the sun starting its rise. But, no, not that day. Right on the distant horizon was a cosmic anomaly, a false dawn, but a bright shining nevertheless. I was looking at the star in the east seen by the Three Wise Men as they rode in search of Jesus. I would later learn, it was not a star but a rare conjunction of the planets -- Jupiter, Saturn and Mars -- all rising in the east slightly before being washed out by the rising sun. I am awestruck by that memory. Many years later after surviving a years worth of cancer surgery and while waiting the results of my first post-surgical diagnostic scan, my entire family gathered to celebrate Christmas. Mom, dad, four brothers, daughter, and a posse of nieces who overwhelmed my one nephew comprised the gathering. Despite my manifest uncertainty, we had a joyous time. I can count on a single hand the times my family gathered. With two Galli soldiers, someone was always missing on deployment. But Christmas in 2004 was an assembly formation, and the clan was all present and accounted for. We celebrated Christmas and my life. I am awestruck by that memory. Then started the clammer of lung cancer treatment. In my treatment years after the Christmas 2004 assembly, my life hovered in sadness and despair. I allowed myself to become overwhelmed by uncertainty, indeed I could think of little else. I forget there are only two things certain in the human experience: birth and death. Everything else is uncertain; outcomes are unpredictable. Treatment was working for I was granted extra life. There were many opportunities for joy but they were frittered away. I am awestruck by those memories. In common with all lung cancer survivors, having been born, I have only one certain human experience yet to deal with -- death. Its timing is uncertain with or without lung cancer. In my memories of active treatment, I chose to let life pass me by forever losing opportunities for joy. Today we celebrate a birth, a new beginning. It was announced by a star. I've seen the star. Let the joy of this birth be a new beginning for all lung cancer survivors. Let us live and find joy in the life we have and be awestruck by the memories of life well lived. Stay the course.
  2. I am not a statistics wizard; an engineer, I value the predictive power of statistics. Indeed, if one can precisely control variables, a statistics-based prediction of the future is remarkably accurate. The joy of predicting end strength for a new carbon-nanotube concrete mix design melts the heart of this engineer. But, concrete is a thing with but 4 variables to control. Human beings have perhaps millions of variables, thus predictions about people are vastly more complicated and inaccurate. Statistically-based predictive power has a foreboding downside. The methodology is used by the medical profession to forecast life after diagnosis with late-stage lung cancer. Unfortunately, I have first-hand experience once predicted with but 6 months of remaining life nearly 13 years ago! My doom was forecasted with high statistical confidence and for a while, I believed it. In the dwell time between treatments, I searched for methods used to generate my projection of demise. Each patient’s type, stage, age, ethnicity, race, and date of diagnosis are reported to the National Cancer Institute on diagnosis. Deaths are also reported but not the cause of death. Nothing is captured on complicating health problems like cardio-pulmonary disease, diabetes, or other life-threatening maladies. The predictive data set appeared slim and uncontrolled. My doom and resulting gloom waned while mindlessly searching web pages for statistical good news. Ammunition in the form of a powerful essay by the noted Harvard biologist Stephen Jay Gould – “The Median Isn’t The Message” – contained: “…leads us to view statistical measures of central tendency [median or mean] wrongly, indeed opposite to the appropriate interpretation in our actual world of variation, shadings, and continua.” This meant the statistician seeks to combine data and express it as a median or mean to predict or explain. I’d forgotten that I was one inaccurate variable in a “world of variation.” One data point used to calculate a central tendency of survival for about 1.4 million Americans diagnosed in 2004. I might be the one holding the right-shifted curve from intersection with the axis of doom. Gould survived 20-years beyond his late-stage, nearly always fatal, abdominal mesothelioma cancer diagnosis. Ironically, he passed after contracting another form of unrelated cancer. A distinguished scientist, Gould eloquently described the limits of science and statistics by suggesting that “a sanguine personality” might be the best prescription for success against cancer. There is always hope, with high confidence. Listen to his essay here. Stay the course. ____________ Get your copy of Scanziety here https://www.amazon.com/Scanziety-Retrospection-Lung-Cancer-Survivor-ebook/dp/B01JMTX0LU
  3. Today, I happily paint two of my toes red, to celebrate two years of being a survivor. Some days I ask myself it has really only been 2 years because it feels like I got the diagnosis so long ago. Lots of scans and needles and chemo and radiation and....I'm still here! I woke up this morning, very cheerful, almost like I was celebrating a birthday. I realize that EVERY SINGLE DAY is a gift, whether we have lung cancer or not, but that cancer seems to make each day that much more important. While I was thinking about everything today, I was overcome with emotion. I know that I am blessed to have as much time as I've had. I think about the friends I've made in this "club" that are no longer here. For those friends, and for the rest of us, we continue to choose life.
  4. My lung cancer diagnosis came as quite a shock to my family, my doctors, and me as I’ve always maintained a healthy lifestyle. I exercised regularly, ate healthily, never smoked, and enjoyed a variety of outdoor sports and other activities with my husband and our three children. I worked as a learning specialist for children ages K-8 and loved my job. Everyone I was close to commented that I was “the healthiest person they know.” But in March 2011, after worsening back pain, I visited my physiatrist who ordered an MRI. I figured I had a disc issue with my back or created an injury from too much sitting during work. When I saw my doctor for the results, she was speechless; she told me my upper body was "riddled with lesions." I said there must be some mistake, that the scan was someone else’s. As the doctor insisted there was no mix-up and this was truly me, I felt as if the floor had given way under me, a feeling that never seemed to fade from my day-to-day experience. I was 54 years old. A few days later, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer. Since I was an otherwise healthy, active, never-smoker, the doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center predicted I would have the EGFR mutation, and the biopsy results proved they were right. The targeted therapy, Tarceva, shrunk my tumors, and with tolerable side effects, allowed me to continue leading a relatively normal life. I even took up sculling, a sport that I had always aspired to learn. However, I was disappointed when only after 9 months my cancer figured out a “way around” the Tarceva, which is expected for targeted therapies (referred to as acquired resistance). Thus, began my participation in a series of clinical trials and chemotherapy, all with mixed results and, at times, difficult side effects, which forced me to retire from my work which I truly loved and still miss a lot. One bright period during these trials was a 14-month durable response from a trial combining Tarceva and the immunotherapy drug called Nivolumab, also known as Opdivo. Unfortunately, after 14 months I had to be quickly removed from this trial due to adrenal failure and colitis. In addition, I have been taking blood thinners since the diagnosis because of a DVT that was found at that time, and a couple of years ago I had a brain tumor surgically removed. My latest battle is with Leptomeningeal Disease, against which I hope to beat the odds once again. Throughout my treatment, I’ve taken advantage of different integrative health services to help manage symptoms and side effects, such as acupuncture, counseling, support groups, and meditation. I can’t say these endeavors were always helpful, but it was important for me to try to find alternate ways to manage symptoms, both physical and emotional. However, over time my stamina began to wane, and my sense of self efficacy began to diminish. It became increasingly frustrating not to be able to do the things I always enjoyed. The treatments and their side effects can wear you down. Initially, I struggled to find camaraderie with other survivors who have the same mutation as mine. Social media has been particularly helpful, especially in the beginning when I was trying to learn about different treatments and find a community. LUNGevity, Cancer Grace, and Inspire, and Lung Care Alliance were all useful sources of information and support. My husband has been a great support and care giver. Initially, he dug into the research to learn what treatments were in development, so we knew what was in the pipeline. Moreover, my children have also been there for me. Even though they’ve grown up and don’t live at home anymore, they still come to visit me as often as they can. It has been difficult for me to accept not being able to participate in their activities and lives the way I was able to when I was healthy. It has been a continuing effort for me to feel “a part of the game.” If I could share my experience with someone newly diagnosed, I would recommend getting as much information as you can from credible sources and not being afraid to get second opinions. It’s best to be treated at a major cancer center even if it means traveling because the research experience, depth of knowledge, and specialists they provide are cutting-edge. I would also recommend participating in clinical trials if they’re an option, as well as trying to find people to connect with who are going through similar situations. Since my diagnosis, life has been a roller-coaster ride of living with uncertainty and trying to function amidst toxic side effects. I try to appreciate the good days and keep active. This spring will be my seventh-year anniversary living with Stage IV lung cancer. I am grateful for those who are raising awareness of lung cancer as a growing epidemic in non-smoking women and am excited to share my story to help other patients. I am especially interested in helping to erase the stigma that lung cancer is only a smoker’s disease, and hopefully increase research funding to the level it should be.
  5. For the past 11 years, I’ve helped treat lung cancer patients as an RN in a cardiothoracic practice. Then last October, I developed a bad cough that lasted over a month. It was cold season, and my co-workers and I thought it might be pneumonia or even bronchitis. No one suspected it could be lung cancer, since I’m a nonsmoker and haven’t been exposed to common risk factors like asbestos, radon, or pollution. I had a chest ray taken, which showed fluid around my right lung. The tests of the fluid didn’t uncover anything extraordinary. I didn’t look sick, but I felt fatigued and at times, I had difficulty breathing. A few days later, I had a CT scan, which supported the pneumonia diagnosis, but it also showed a thickening on my chest wall. The doctors drained the fluid and tested it twice. Both times, the results came back negative for cancer cells. This didn’t completely rule out the possibility, but it gave us reasons to be hopeful. I started taking antibiotics and steroids, which were prescribed by a pulmonologist. But the second CT scan did not show any improvement. My first surgery was scheduled for late January. The doctors thought I had an infection and that they’d be able to clean it out. But during surgery, they discovered growths in my lung that had expanded into my chest wall. The hospital lab confirmed that it was lung cancer. My boss, cardiothoracic surgeon Carmine Frumiento, and my colleague, Danielle George, a longtime friend and physician assistant who I work with every day, had to give me, my husband, and my family the heartbreaking news that I have advanced lung cancer. It sounded so surreal that at first, I thought I was dreaming. I have a 6-year old daughter and a 2-year old son. All of the sudden, I went from being a care provider to being a patient. I had the surgery, and then later that week, I traveled to Massachusetts General Hospital to meet with some of the best specialists in the country. Danielle traveled to Boston with me and my husband, Chris. Before we left, Danielle and Dr. Frumiento helped us prepare a list of questions to ask the doctors at Mass. General. The doctors at MGH recommended starting a new targeted therapy without chemo or radiation. The results have been very promising on patients with my genetic mutation. But since the medication is so new, my insurance would not pay for it unless I tried an older treatment first. In order for her insurance to approve the new treatment, I would have to progress on the old treatment, or suffer from intolerable side effects. It felt like I was on an emotional roller-coaster. Fortunately, my colleagues helped me appeal the insurance company’s decision, and we won. I still work as a nurse, but I’ve cut down to just mornings, since I get very tired by the afternoon. I’m very grateful for the support of my work friends, who have become like extended family. They’ve helped to make sure I’m getting the best care. I realize that not all patients have those strong connections, and how important it is to advocate for yourself. I’ve been fortunate to have incredible support from my family, friends, and community. They’ve helped with everything from meals to child care to raising funds to help pay for my medical expenses. And my family was selected as the beneficiary of the Celebration of Courage Co-ed Hockey Tournament earlier this month. My husband has played in the tournament for many years to help support and raise funds for families affected by cancer. Now, our family is affected by cancer. It is likely that my cancer will never go away, but I have been told that the genetic mutation cannot be passed down to my children. The goal is to turn my cancer into a manageable chronic disease that I can live with until better treatments are available. I hope my story will raise awareness that lung cancer can happen to anyone, even young nonsmokers. It’s a fact I never fully realized myself, until I was diagnosed. There is so much blame and stigma surrounding lung cancer. I want to help raise awareness about the resources that are available for anyone who is diagnosed.
  6. “I’m sorry, sweetheart these are tumors in your lungs and a form of lung cancer”. These were the words spoken to a vibrant, healthy 36-year-old female on October 19, 2017, by the thoracic surgeon. I knew that things were probably not good when he came in and asked if I was alone. Unfortunately, I was alone. Looking back, that day seems like a blur. I remember the ladies at the checkout desk asking how I was doing as they ask so many patients all day long. It’s mere customer service, right? I never made eye contact and mustered enough energy to say the word “fine”. I was far from fine, but I just wanted to get out of there. I never cried in the doctor’s office that day, but walking down that winding hallway and through the parking lot felt like I was carrying cinder blocks for shoes around my feet. The minute I got in my car and closed the door was the moment that I completely lost myself. I have cancer. I am going to die. My parents are going to have to bury their only child. My world felt like it had crashed. The days and weeks ahead were just amazing considering my new circumstances. People loved on me like I had never been loved on before. I received cards and texts and all sorts of support, but a part of me wanted to tell them that I was still the same person and I appreciated the cards of support, but that I wasn’t dead yet. Please hold the flowers too. My lung cancer diagnosis was a complete shock as it is to so many. However, I was asymptomatic and cancer was the last thing on my brain. I was hospitalized for a Bartholin Cyst. I had my yearly exam already scheduled with my OB/GYN and this exam was far from routine. I explained to the nurse that I was in pain and was running temperatures between 101-103⁰. I visited the local emergency room twice to attempt to acquire some relief and was incorrectly diagnosed. My OB/GYN admitted me to get antibiotics started quickly and mentioned a minor surgery, but before I went to the hospital, he wanted me to have a CT of my abdomen to identify the cyst prior to any procedure. Thankfully, the tech caught just the lower portion of my lungs on that scan and the radiologist noted lung nodules. When I went back to my OB/GYN for my check up, he mentioned the lung nodules and ordered a full chest scan. He informed me that people had benign nodules and they could be there from my severe infection, but that he wanted to just make sure that it wasn’t anything. The next day he called me to inform that the nodules were still there and he would like for me to see a Pulmonary Specialist. I agreed and the Pulmonary Specialist was very concerned about the number of nodules in my lungs which were over 100 scattered across both lungs. He conducted a bronchoscope and a needle biopsy for which both were non-diagnostic and I was then punted to the Thoracic Surgeon. The Thoracic Surgeon removed three wedge sections and sent the pathology off to Mayo Clinic in Arizona. After further molecular testing, my oncologist educated me on the different mutations and the path of treatment that would be taken for each of them. It was determined that I was Stage IV due to both lungs being involved and was positive for T790M. I began Tagrisso as a first line on November 11, 2017. After 6 months on this drug, my last scans read “barely perceptible”. I will keep taking Tagrisso until resistance occurs and hopefully there will be another inhibitor to take its place. When I was first diagnosed, I would literally wake up in the night in a panic. I couldn’t sleep, eat or function normally. I started browsing the internet for support groups and pages as well as social media. I found the LUNGevity private patient groups on Facebook and asked to be added to every single one of them. I began telling my story and people started responding to me and sharing their stories. Strangers were sending me encouraging private messages. I saw people living and thriving with an incurable, life-shortening disease. I found hope. I started sleeping and not crying so much. Finding those support groups really made the initial journey a bit easier. Although we were strangers, we were brought together by a common bond. I’ve since been able to meet some of those people in person through the HOPE Summit and my “family” has grown by leaps and bounds. I would have never met these incredible people without lung cancer. Receiving a lung cancer diagnosis is not something any of us would have willingly signed up for, but I am thankful that I was able to find out before it spread all over my body and treatment options were expunged. I am also thankful for the perspective shift. I now know what it means to live each day with intent. The days of merely existing are over. It’s time to live and love life to the fullest because I now understand the value of each day that I am given.
  7. Becoming Empowered Advocates My wife, Heather, told me about LUNGevity National HOPE Summit and that she wanted to attend. She received a Travel Grant from LUNGevity and I decided to join her at the conference. It is one of the best things we ever did. The wealth of information about lung cancer available through LUNGevity is not comparable to anything I could find in Canada or through any Canadian organizations. LUNGevity is so caring, thoughtful, and cutting edge. Heather and I attended our first National HOPE Summit in 2016. It was so incredibly inspiring. We got to see first-hand that the statistics are just numbers, not individual expiry dates. The number of people in attendence was impressive and the conference was well organized. We met people from across North America who embodied hope and positivity. It felt like a family. The medical professionals at this event were amazing. They spoke with my wife and gave her their contact information if they could ever assist her in any way in the future. After that experience, I felt empowered to become an advocate and to get involved with awareness events with my wife in our home province of New Brunswick. I followed LUNGevity on Twitter and I joined the LUNGevity Caregivers group on Facebook. I started participating in a few of LUNGevity’s LC Caregiver Twitter chats, which are held the first Wednesday of every month. I utilized the #stopthestigma hashtag on Twitter whenever possible. I volunteered to be a LifeLine Support Mentor to provide peer-to-peer support to other caregivers, and I joined LUNGevity’s Social Media Ambassadors to help raise awareness online. My goal is to raise awareness of lung cancer as the number one cancer killer, taking more lives annually than breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers combined, while receiving the least amount of federal funding for research. I hope that my advocacy efforts will help other caregivers through sharing my experience, strength, and hope. Whenever I can, I join my wife in her advocacy work. It is important to us to stay educated on new treatments, research, and changes within the lung cancer community. We continuously meet with Federal and Provincial politicians to educate them about lung cancer, to lobby for equal access to health care, to promote genetic testing, and to demand equal catastrophic drug coverage in Canada. Heather lends her name and story to different publications to spread the word about lung cancer. Through social media, she has connected with doctors and research scientists across Canada to support their requests for research funding. The most recent was through a connection with a very passionate doctor at the Dalhousie University Research Foundation. I hope to help educate the greater public that if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. It’s not “just” a smoker’s disease and smoking is listed as a possible cause for all cancers. Lung cancer patients do not deserve this disease. I plan to continue to volunteer at events in my area to help raise funds for research and to promote the work and resources available through LUNGevity. And Heather and I look forward to attending National HOPE Summit together this spring.
  8. My wife, Heather’s lung cancer was discovered by accident. She was having an abdominal CT scan when the doctor noticed a small shadow on her lower right lobe. She subsequently had a chest CT scan. The Thoracic surgeon felt it was pneumonia scar but it was too small for a needle biopsy so he ordered a PET scan. We went for the PET scan and the radiologist who did the scan also read it and told her immediately that she did not have cancer. (It was not until a couple of years later that I actually read the report which indicated that there had been mild FDG uptake in the upper left quadrant of this spot.) She started having follow-up CT scans every 6 months. On one scan, the report came back that the spot had diminished in size. We were excited because cancer doesn’t shrink but unfortunately not informed enough to know that positioning during the scan can make a difference. She was then moved to an annual CT scan. Heather had her annual scan in July 2012 and we went to her parent’s cottage at the beach for a couple of weeks. When we returned home there a message on our machine to call the Thoracic surgeon’s office for her appointment. This was a new surgeon as the previous one had retired. She called the office and the receptionist said she was booking her for an appointment to see the surgeon because of the growth in her lung. The receptionist assumed that our family physician had informed us. I immediately called our family physician who was doing rounds in the hospital and asked him what was going on. He didn’t realize that the appointment would be set up so quickly and apologized and we made arrangements to meet at his office. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful family physician who we used as the center for all future appointments and advice. Heather underwent a wedge resection on Labour Day weekend 2012 to remove her tumor. The tumor tested positive for NSCLC Adenocarcinoma and was scheduled for a lobectomy to remove the bottom lobe of her right lung. This operation was performed on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend in October, along with a wedge resection of a nodule in her middle lobe and Lymph node sampling from the mediastinum and hilar. She was Stage 3a T2N2M0 with metastasis in three different lymph node stations. All her lymph nodes also had vascular involvement. Her oncologist patted her knee and told her that she had a 15% probability of surviving 5 years. On New Year’s Eve, ending 2012, Heather began 4 rounds of chemo, Cisplatin and Navelbine followed by 25 radiation treatments. This has been a journey with many ups and downs with a few scares along the way but she is currently stable and enjoying life.
  9. I was diagnosed with Stage IV Lung Cancer on September 19, 2016. The doctor told us that it was inoperable and radiation was not an option. It felt as though I’d been punched in the stomach. I immediately began thinking of my children and my wife, Lisa, and that my time here on Earth was very limited. I had no words that day, only utter despair. As the initial shock wore off, and the option of getting selected for a trial medication was offered, I realized that I may have a chance at fighting cancer and not letting cancer "fight" me. I’m ALK positive, so I was able to start taking a targeted therapy drug. It was shortly after the diagnosis and when I had no choice but to accept this as my fate, that I made the decision to fight this disease by becoming proactive in my care. I have always been a man of strong faith, and God has not failed me yet. Sometimes it takes something so big to appreciate waking up each day to your family and the people you love! I pray to God every night to give me another day. I was looking for an organization that focused on spreading awareness about lung cancer and funding research. I also liked that LUNGevity provided so many different types of support. We created a team for Breathe Deep Boca Raton, a 5K walk and run that raised lung cancer awareness and funds for LUNGevity for research and support programs. My wife and I are very active in our community, so we started reaching out to people to encourage them to come out and support the event. We advertised in local restaurants and reached out to local schools and youth recreation programs, and got some things going. My kids and I used social media to spread the word and I followed up with phone calls to remind people to show up. A friend of mine is in a band, so we asked them to come out and play live music at the event. Parts of the event are more somber, when we’re honoring the people we’ve lost to this disease, but other parts are uplifting and hopeful when we talk about research and the progress being made. I think the impact in the community is two-fold. First, it helps to raise awareness about lung cancer. I felt so strongly about making sure people realize that lung cancer isn’t only for smoker. And it also brings awareness about LUNGevity and that this a specific organization to help people impacted by lung cancer. I’m grateful for the research and medication and for the support of my family, friends, and the community. I hope the fundraising goes toward research to help find more targeted therapies. We need to fund research for treatment options that increase survival rates and help contain and manage the disease. I’m ALK positive, and there are treatments for that specific mutation, but I’d like them to find treatments for other mutations as well. I still look at the glass half full, because today, I am still here. My loving wife and children stand with me every day in this long, tedious, sometimes unbearable cancer journey. Through my positive energy and prayers we stay strong, and in September 2017, we celebrated my one-year cancerversary!
  10. I first became involved with LUNGevity through National HOPE Summit, a survivorship conference in Washington, D.C. Seeing so many survivors and being able to share our stories and gain knowledge made the experience very special. I’m always impressed by the quality of what I learn and what is shared. The fact that the medical researchers can interact with patients in an intimate setting and participate in the roundtable discussions is very inspiring. Going to HOPE Summit has been a springboard for many other volunteer and advocacy opportunities. At my first conference, I learned about the LifeLine peer-to-peer support program. As a long-term survivor, I wanted to use my story to try to inspire hope in others who were living with lung cancer, so I jumped at the chance to give back as a mentor. Through HOPE Summit, I also got to know Andrea Ferris, LUNGevity’s President, and Katie Brown, LUNGevity’s Vice President of Support & Survivorship. Katie recommended me as a reviewer for the Department of Defense research grant program and I love being part of that. LUNGevity also connected me with Eli Lilly & Co. who produced an Emmy-winning documentary about my family and me. I've attended a congressional luncheon on Capitol Hill with LUNGevity, and a lab tour at Lilly. I was looking for ways to give back in my local community, so a few years ago I started a support group in Fort Myers, Florida. The group provides wonderful camaraderie and community. We meet once a month to share stories and experiences and resources, and we also get together socially once a month. We’re a close-knit group. In 2017, I convinced four members of my lung cancer support group to attend National HOPE Summit with me. We were so inspired that we decided to organize a Breathe Deep event in Fort Myers to raise awareness about the facts of lung cancer. We were able to share our story in local media and even surpassed our fundraising goal. We held the 5K walk and fun run on November 4 to kick off Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Breathe Deep Fort Myers brings attention to lung cancer and the lack of funding and gives us the opportunity to get rid of the stigma. We want to let the people in our area know that you don’t have to smoke to get lung cancer, that two out of three of the people diagnosed are never-smokers or quit many years ago. Being an event coordinator gives me such a feeling of purpose. I’ve been so aimless since I retired from teaching because of my health. Helping others through this event and through the support group is very rewarding. Our number one goal is to provide much needed research funding. We also want to raise money for patient education and support, and help continue to bring top-notch speakers to HOPE Summits. I hope that both the walk and the support group continue to grow and make an impact in the community. LUNGevity is so patient-oriented and offers so much support and information and education that it aligns with my goals. I want to give back to LUNGevity because I feel like they’ve given a lot to all of us. That makes me want to do as much as I can to help support LUNGevity’s mission to improve quality of life and survivorship. Melissa (bottom right) with members of the Fort Myers Lung Cancer Support Group and their families at the 2017 National HOPE Summit.
  11. October 30, 2015 will forever be the day my world changed. That day I heard those words that no person wants to hear: “You have cancer.” I kept questioning how this could happen to me. I was a healthy, 35 year old nonsmoker, and a mom of two great children. I came to learn that you don’t have to be a smoker to get lung cancer. Honestly even if one was a smoker, would it matter? No one should have to go through this terrible journey. Soon after my diagnosis I saw a surgeon and was told that I was not a candidate for surgery, as my cancer had metastasized to the surrounding lymph nodes. Instead of surgery, I was scheduled for 35 sessions of radiation and two rounds of chemo infusion, believing that if the treatment was effective that surgery could be an option to remove the remaining cancer. After my initial chemo and radiation was complete the tumor in my lung had shrunk considerably and lymph nodes appeared to be clear of cancer. Good news, right? Unfortunately, new scans showed that what had been an inconclusive spot on my liver had now grown into a tumor, and my official diagnosis was changed from stage 3b to stage 4. The new tumor meant surgical treatment was no longer an option, and that medicine is my only hope. At that time my husband and I realized it was time to get a second opinion, which turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. My new oncologist tested my cancer for genetic mutations. At the time, I had no idea what he was even talking about. Then I received a call from him on a Friday afternoon stating I have the EGFR mutation. I could hear the joy in his voice. After doing some research I came to understand that this was a very good thing, and within a few days I started to take a targeted therapy called Tarceva. My quality of life is way better than I would have ever thought possible. I’m now 37 and living with stage IV lung cancer, hoping that medicine advances faster than my tumors. During my initial treatment I was bitter. I did not want to hear “you can beat this” or “you are the strongest woman I know” or “you are a fighter.” I just wanted to get through my treatment and move on with my life. As much as I hate my cancer, it has taught me some valuable lessons. First, it taught me to slow down. I didn’t realize how much I was just trying to get through life, instead of actually living it. Ironically, I enjoy life more now than ever. Second, don’t sweat the small things. Living with a terminal illness helps one understand what‘s really important in life. Kateri and her family
  12. In December 2016, I started experiencing a lot of shoulder pain and then back pain leading to shortness of breath. I went in for an X-ray and MRI, and was told I had pneumonia. I knew that wasn’t correct because I hadn’t been sick enough to get pneumonia. I spoke to my doctor and insisted on being seen again right away. I was sent to the hospital to have a CT scan, which showed fluid in the lining of my lungs. I had the fluid tapped for testing and it was bloody. I was referred to a thoracic surgeon and underwent surgery to have the fluid drained in March of 2017. During surgery they did a scope to look around and found and removed a cancerous mass. I was diagnosed with Stage IV adenocarcinoma lung cancer. I was in the hospital for five days. When I got out on a Friday, I met with my oncologist. They decided to test the mass for genetic mutations. My oncologist called me at home to share the results. I was expecting bad news, but she said she had good news. Genetic testing showed that my cancer was caused by the ALK gene mutation. She told me that having a genetic mutation was like winning the lung cancer lottery because there were very effective treatment options. At the time, Alcensa was still a second-line treatment, but my oncologist and I pushed for me to be able to start taking the drug. It was so new that I was one of the first patients at my hospital to start taking it. Just a few weeks after I started taking Alcensa, it was approved as a first-line treatment. I have some physical challenges that impact me. Some of them are shortness of breath, muscle pain and fatigue. I have nerve pain from my thoracic surgery as well. I am also dealing with mental challenges. I am working fulltime however, I struggle with memory loss, focus and vision issues, all of which are side effects of my treatment. I also deal with some depression. I explain it to family members as mental torture. You try to enjoy living but, you are always aware that your life can be cut short at anytime. The cancer consumes your thoughts 24/7. That is really hard. I recently became a member of the ALK Positive Facebook group, which led me to LUNGevity Foundation. ALK Positive has partnered with LUNGevity for a research grant for our cause. It’s a great partnership. I wish I would have known about LUNGevity and the ALK Positive online support group right away. LUNGevity really advocates for patients. They are such a great source for support and information. I noted that they share survivor stories and I immediately decided that I wanted to share my story with others. The more we talk about lung cancer, the more others learn and we can get rid of the stigma. Putting faces to this disease makes a real impact. I would tell a newly diagnosed patient to reach out to support organizations like LUNGevity. Knowledge is power and there is hope. The more you know about this disease and advocate for yourself the better off you will be. It’s a scary road but a little easier when you find good support sources. Survivorship means I am living with this disease. I hope to keep living with this disease for many years and provide support and advocate for others. I do not want to sit and wait, I want to take action to help myself and others as much as possible. We need to fight for more research funding and to make others aware of this disease. I hope to touch others with lung cancer and inspire them to share their story and find their voice to advocate. I want to get the word out about ALK lung cancer and remove that stigma that it’s a smokers’ disease. Whether you smoked or not doesn’t matter. If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer. I hope that as others find their voices too, we can get the word out about how we lack sufficient funding for research. That is really important to me. 433 people die each day of lung cancer – we have to change this!
  13. I found out that I had lung cancer back in August of 1999. I had 3 bouts of pneumonia in the first 6 months of that year. The last chest X-ray showed an area of concern. The next step was to have a CT scan of the area. I had the CT and they saw a blockage in my right lung between the lower and middle lobes. I was sent to see a pulmonologist and he scheduled a biopsy. He preformed the biopsy and they found a tumor that was blocking the area of my main bronchi between those two lower lobes. They tested the sample from the biopsy and it showed Non Small Cell lung cancer. I was staged at 2B. At that time they asked if I’d be willing to try a new approach in treatment. I said yes. The new procedure was to give me 6 rounds of chemo then 39 radiation treatments and the surgery to remove my two lower lobes in my right lung. The “old” way was to reverse those steps. Since then they have found no change in survival rates doing it one way or the other. My comment is 18 years and I’m still here. I think it worked great! Of course all these years later things have changed but not until recently. When I was diagnosed the Internet was in its infancy. There were no lung cancer support groups on line or in hospitals. We didn’t live long enough as a group to have a call for them. There were cancer in general groups but I was on the young side of the equation which put me in a smaller population. I wish there had been more groups or on line groups. I had a young family, I owned a small landscaping business and I paid my own health insurance. My wife was a stay at home mom who worked part time. We had decided it was more important to us to have the children have a parent available and I would just work longer. At that time my heath insurance was an HMO and was the cheapest I could find. But this is when the health insurance crisis started. My premium went from under $400.00 a month to over $1800.00 a month in a year’s time. I somehow managed to stay working through treatment and the surgery. Thank you my friends, relatives, and employees who carried a lot of the load. After surgery my wife had to go to work full time to get us health insurance. For a few months we somehow made it without insurance. I started the survivorship journey dealing with multiple doctors’ appointments, testing appointments and running a business. It was not easy but as with anything you make adjustments to fit it in. You have to. The first five years of this survivorship was learning how to negotiate my way. I’m in a physical business. I can’t do what I used to. I had had a bad back for years since the cancer, my back has been great! I can’t swing a sledgehammer or chase a lawn mower or anything rough that I used to do. Instead I worked my way around it. I bought a riding mower, can’t do all the lawns I used to but I can mow larger lawns easier. I can’t move wheelbarrows full of soil, rocks or even plants but I can run a tractor and do it that way. I can’t run anywhere but I walk and I get there slower but not that much slower. You will find new ways to do things and or you don’t do something’s. I remember my wife asking the surgeon what will my husband be able to do after the surgery. He said well if he said he played tennis, I’d say he couldn’t play that anymore. I guess the look on her face made him ask why do you ask. He owns his own landscaping business. Oh, hmmmm, I have never told a patient that they couldn’t do something but you’ll know what you can or can’t do. So that’s how I took how I’d live my life. I’ll try to do everything and see if I can. If I have to perform this or that I will find away. Over time I have realized how lucky I’ve been to survive this long. After a few years I went searching the Internet for someway for me to give back. I found the Lung Cancer Alliance through their website and online support group. That is when I started to talk to anyone who was newly diagnosed with lung cancer. I vowed I would try to make sure that no one would start this journey without someone to say I know how you feel and it’s ok to be scared, alone, and despondent. No one knows what it is like to have someone tell you, you have lung cancer, any questions? As they did to me the very first time anyone even mentioned to me that I had cancer. Scared is not even close to how I felt. I found out about LUNGevity from a couple of survivors who were on another site. I also found that I noticed more advocacy from LUNGevity in respect to serving the lung cancer community, informational posts that I found very interesting and the very active organization that seemed to be everywhere reaching out to those in need. It certainly fit with my own advocacy thoughts about trying to reach out to the newly diagnosed. As a closing thought, try to always keep in your mind, there is always hope, hope not only for today but for tomorrow and the next day and the day after that!
  14. LaurenH

    Nina Beaty

    I was first diagnosed with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) in January of 2014 from a biopsy of the tumor that was sitting on top of my left lung. I had no symptoms I was ill yet I was urged by a radiologist who was a friend of the family to get an early lung cancer detection CT scan of the chest because I had been a smoker years before and grew up in a household of heavy smokers. So for me, it came as a total shock when I was told my diagnosis and “to get into the city for treatment, ASAP. “ For the next two years, I went through the standard treatment for limited stage SCLC, -chemo, radiation to the tumor, and prophylactic radiation to my brain. Good news, the tumor had shrunk but bad news, a new one had begun to grow in my abdomen. Now there was no option left for me except to go on an immunotherapy clinical trial, which I began in June 2015. I know I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve survived over two years thanks to being enrolled in the clinical trial with the bonus of having virtually no side effects. I first heard about LUNGevity through my oncologist when he invited me to be one of his “patient-guests” at LUNGevity’s Gala in 2016. Encouraged by the speakers and to learn about more about LUNGevity’s focus on increasing the quality of life for cancer survivors and their caregivers, I contacted Katie Brown, LUNGevity’s Vice President of Support & Survivorship, to become a volunteer. I wanted to support other SCLC patients who were probably as confused and conflicted about their choices as I was when I was first diagnosed with this less common type of lung cancer. Katie gave me information about “LifeLine”, LUNGevity’s peer-to-peer support program that matches patients and caregivers to mentors with similar diagnoses. LifeLine mentors forge a personal connection by getting to know their mentee, offering words of encouragement, and by sharing aspects of their own cancer experiences. LUNGevity connected me to my first LifeLine mentee in early 2017. When I’m on the phone with mentees, I try to get a quick take on what that individual would like to get from speaking with me. I usually keep my personal saga with SCLC brief so the mentees have a chance to tell me what’s been on their mind. Sometimes, a particular part of their cancer situation is upsetting or causing frustration, while other times, they would just like to talk it out and have me listen. If I hear we have points in common, I’ll say something like “I get it. X-Y-Z happened to me, too!” Then I reassure them that they will get though it and find the solution that’s right for them. Some mentees just want a one-time chat to know someone else has survived the same illness. Others, who don’t have anyone they feel close to, might call me more frequently. One time I called Katie to get her advice on how to handle a situation that I felt was beyond my capacity to deal with. She was very understanding and together we came up with workable solution. So if you become a LifeLine mentor, don’t be afraid to reach out to the LUNGevity staff. They’re there to support you, too. The most rewarding thing about being a mentor is hearing someone newly diagnosed with SCLC say, ”Oh I’m so glad I talked to you. I feel like this is doable now. If you survived, maybe I can too.” Hope is the most precious gift I could ever offer somebody, which may sound a bit drippy, but it’s so true. I get to offer hope every time I tell my story that I have survived longer than I, or anyone else, would’ve believed possible. Photo credit: Ben Hider for the CURE Magazine
  15. LaurenH

    Sam McBride

    Around the first of December 2015 I noticed I was having some shortness of breath when I climbed the flight of stairs to my apartment. I didn't think much of it at the time. I just chalked it up to my age (62) and being out of shape. As time went on the shortness of breath became worse and I developed a persistent cough with some transient hoarseness. I decided it was time to see the doctor. My primary care provider diagnosed me with asthma/bronchitis, which I had many times over the years in the past. He put me on an antibiotic and an inhaler which usually worked. As the days went by and I did not get any better, I went back to see him. He switched the antibiotic and prescribed a cough syrup. I still wasn’t getting relief, so I went back a couple more times. The doctor seemed to be getting frustrated with me, and I knew I needed to see a specialist. I scheduled an appointment with a pulmonologist. A chest x-ray showed a large pleural effusion. I underwent a thoracentesis, which revealed malignant cells in the fluid. A CT also showed several masses in my right lung. I was sent to a thoracic surgeon who performed a pluerodisis and biopsy. The biopsy revealed stage 4 metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that tested positive for the ALK mutation. After learning about the advancements in the treatment of NSCLC, especially in the ALK mutation, I chose to have treatment. My oncologist recommended an oral targeted therapy drug Xalkori (crizotinib). He explained that the drug was not a "cure" but was very effective in shrinking or slowing tumor growth, which it did with very few side effects. Shortly after being diagnosed and before beginning treatment with Xalkori I started researching everything I could find about lung cancer just trying to get a better understanding of my disease and find support from others who were dealing with lung cancer, it was during this research that I came upon the LUNGevity website. The name was the first thing that attracted me, I thought it was a neat play on the word longevity but as I began reading I soon realized there was a wealth of information and support there and that the organizaton was very actively involved with funding for research which really appealed to me because I feel it is through research that a cure will one day be found. I liked what I learned and decided to become a Social Media Ambassador so that I could help spread the word about lung cancer and clear up some misconceptions about the disease. I attended a Hope summit put on by Lungevity in Washington DC where I was even more impressed with the organization and the wonderful people involved with it. The LUNGevity website, Inspire, and the Alkies Worldwide Facebook group have been valuable resources of information and support for me. I am also a member of a cancer support group at my church. The biggest challenge to me is always living with this disease in the back of my mind. Every scan or blood test reminds me that there is a potential killer living in my body and I don't know what it is up to until I get my results. It is as much a mental disease as it is a physical one. To me, a survivor is a person who has overcome something bad and lived to tell about it. If I could give any advice or words of wisdom to a newly diagnosed patient, I would first tell them that lung cancer is no longer the automatic death sentence that it was in the past. I would tell them to demand gene mutation testing so they know what kinds of treatment options are available. I would also tell them that lung cancer treatment is a waiting game. It’s helpful to distract yourself with life and not to focus solely on this disease. Don't give lung cancer that much power over you! I hope that my efforts as a volunteer will help raise awareness and funds for lung cancer research. I want to make people aware that it only takes lungs to get lung cancer. Sam and her husband Bob in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, shortly after her diagnosis.
  16. It came as quite a surprise when I was first diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer in 2007. It was an even bigger shock to learn that my lung cancer was caused by exposure to high levels of radon gas in my own home. I want to keep sharing my story with the hope that it might prevent others from getting lung cancer from radon gas. My husband and I did extensive renovations on our house to turn it into our dream home. About five years later, I developed a nagging cough. I went to the doctor, who sent me for a CT scan. The scan showed a mass in my right lung, so we scheduled an appointment with a pulmonologist to have a biopsy. The doctor who performed the biopsy called to tell me that I had lung cancer and that it was inoperable. He told me that I had four months to live. My husband had just returned from a trip to Africa and my mother was staying with us while she recovered from surgery. I turned on the T.V. and Jordin Sparks was singing, “This is My Now” and it just hit me that “you can sit here and feel sorry for yourself or you can fight it.” It’s crazy how the universe works. Shortly after I was diagnosed, we had our home tested for radon gas, the second leading cause of lung cancer. The test showed levels that were 6-times the EPA recommended action level. I had my right lung removed and underwent 5 weeks of radiation and 4 months of chemotherapy. I started to gain my strength back and started looking for a lung cancer community. In the beginning, there was very little information about lung cancer. I couldn’t find anyone to talk to. Then my daughter found out about LUNGevity and a walk they were holding in Manhatten Beach, California, called Breathe Deep Los Angeles. She said we should go there on a girls’ trip. Who wouldn't want to go to the beach after dealing with lung cancer treatment? My first Breathe Deep experience was so inspirational. There were over 350 people walking whose lives had somehow been touched by lung cancer. I’d never been to anything like that and there was nothing like that where I lived near Salt Lake City. When we got home, my other daughter said, “Why don’t we start one here?” So we held our first Breathe Deep Salt Lake City in 2012. I remained cancer free for 6 years, then in 2014 they found a fist-sized tumor in the front of my brain and a smaller tumor in the back which was metastasized lung cancer. They were able to remove those tumors and I went back into remission until that December, when they found 6 more brain tumors. I underwent surgeries to remove those, and then in January 2015, I started on a new chemo pill that I take orally. This treatment has worked very well for me and now there are four more on the market that would work just as well or better if this one stopped working. This is why I am so passionate to raise funds for lung cancer research. I am living proof that it works. The new treatments are so effective and amazing, but researchers need funding to find a cure. Lung Cancer research receives the least amount of federal funding of all types of cancer, yet it is the deadliest. I feel it is so important to raise funds to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients. I think the most rewarding thing about being a Breathe Deep event coordinator is to see people coming back year after year because they know it’s a good cause. It makes you realize how many people care about health and our lungs. The more people you talk to, the more you find that they have a connection to lung cancer, whether it’s a family member or friend. In addition to raising funds and awareness, we try to provide information at our event. We have speakers who talk about new discoveries in lung cancer treatment and radon. In fact, just because we’ve been raising awareness, a lot of the real estate agents are on board with getting homes they sell tested for radon gas. A local organization that does radon testing is even donating $20 of every radon test they do to LUNGevity. They’re promoting the walk to all of the real estate agencies that they work with. It’s amazing how generous people are. At first, I thought I can’t go around asking for free stuff. But I’ve found that people are willing to help! I really feel like the grassroots is the way to reach people. I’ve had more success talking to people one-on-one. We’ve done some women’s groups and I’ve spoken at classes on Radon. I also worked with a social worker to put together a lung cancer support group. The online groups are great, but sometimes, you just really need to talk so somebody in person. In addition to LUNGevity, I’ve also been doing a lot with the Utah Radon coalition. And I’m going to be speaking at the international radon convention in New Orleans in October. I want to show that there’s a face to lung cancer caused by radon gas. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Preventing lung cancer is so much easier and less costly than treating lung cancer.
  17. Allison Doan has been on a long journey of self discovery, from a life of elite privilege to a brief time in federal prison, and then a battle with stage IV lung cancer. Through years of ups and downs, and finding forgiveness and strength she didn’t even realize that she possessed, Allison has remained determined to share a message of hope. Allison’s broken road has led her to a place of peace. She’s written an inspiring memoir, Bruised and Beautiful, which will be published later this month. By sharing her story, Allison hopes to inspire people that it’s possible to get through life’s hardships with love, faith, and trust. “I wanted to write the book when I was facing prison because I knew that I was going to take something horrible and scary and turn it into something good. I wanted to convey a message of hope that you can face anything with God on your side. When I started writing, I thought I’m going to end it here, and then the cancer struck,” says Allison. She describes her cancer diagnosis on her Caring Bridge site: “In early November 2014, I noticed a large lymph node on the right side of my neck. I was also having some pain with breathing and a dry cough. After some time had passed and no progress from antibiotics, my primary doctor ordered an ultrasound and several CT's which would reveal some concerns. The CT had shown 3 large lymph nodes in my chest (mediastinum area), 3 nodules in my lungs and 2 nodules in my thyroid gland. I was referred to an oncologist who ordered a biopsy on December 29. I was preparing myself for the news of possible lymphoma or squamous cell carcinoma according to what the doctor said. My doctor informed me that I have what looked to be medullary thyroid cancer a very rare form of thyroid cancer. A blood test was ordered to confirm this and a PET scan to see where the cancer might have spread. I began the arduous task of research to find those doctors that might have a specialty in this area. We decided to head to MD Anderson in Houston for a second opinion. After more testing and another biopsy it was confirmed that the cancer was actually coming from the lung. They diagnosed me with Stage IV neuroendocrine lung cancer which is incurable. After the shock and fear subsided I began to cling to my strong faith in our loving heavenly Father who holds me and this situation in His loving hands. Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans I have for you sayeth the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.'” Realizing that her story wasn’t complete, Allison continued to write while undergoing treatment, hitting some roadblocks along the way. Allison says she “learned to navigate through the world of a cancer patient: days of normal, days of doctor visits, days of feeling great, and days of feeling crummy. Lung cancer is an up and down journey of new treatments. Then they stop working and you try something else.” Allison’s husband and care partner, Keith, has been by her side since the moment of her diagnosis. The two were married while she was undergoing treatment and planned their honeymoon in St. John in between clinical trials. Allison shared her story with country music artists Dave Fenley and Ray Johnston, who penned a song in her honor. The song, called Bruised and Beautiful (Alli’s Song), is full of grace and gratitude. It carries Allison’s powerful message of living each day to the fullest and trusting God. Part of proceeds from book and song will go to LUNGevity Foundation. LUNGevity was the first organization that Allison found when she started looking for online support after her diagnosis. The song Bruised and Beautiful is available for download on iTunes. Allison’s memoir of the same title, will be published in June 2017. In May, Allison entered hospice care to help with symptom relief and quality of life. She tells her family and friends that she’s staying “Allistrong” and that she’s humbled by the love, support, and encouragement she’s received. “Above all,” Allison says, “life is worth living.” Allison and her husband Keith, with their children Daniel, Peter, Megan, and Grant.
  18. I was diagnosed in April 2017 with lung cancer (stage 4 adenocarcinoma with malignant pleural effusion). I celebrated my 47th birthday in May. My husband and I will celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary in July. We have a 12 year old daughter. This is my second stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The first was shortly after my husband asked me to marry him. I was 23 years old and had stage 4 Hodgkins. I was treated with a combination MOPP ABVD regimen. My life was placed on pause while I took 24 treatments and tried to make a new normal. After 15 months of chemotherapy, I was given a clean bill of health. The original plan included pinpoint radiation but after consulting the tumor board, my oncologist told me the group decision was to stop with chemo. Now I could plan my wedding and get on with my life. My oncologist and nurse even attended my wedding. Years later at a follow up, my oncologist told me that we dodged a bullet by not doing the radiation as many patients were now being diagnosed with leukemia or breast cancer. I remember feeling a cold shiver at the thought that I could have been in that position. We were blessed with a daughter even though I had been told I most likely would be sterile. Fast forward to 2017, I had a cold early in the year but could not shake the cough. I was given a couple of rounds of antibiotics, then was referred to the pulmonologist. I had a thoracentisis. The pulmonologist told me not to Google, but I did, not about pleural effusions but about long term effects of MOPP ABVD. The following week, he gave me the diagnosis and I admitted my transgression. Maybe the lung cancer is just the hand that I was dealt, but I can't help but tie it back to the treatment for Hodgkins. I have been very fortunate to have wonderful support from my family, friends, and co-workers. I have also had incredible medical care from physicians, nurses, and support staff. If any Hodgkins survivors who only had chemo and have also been diagnosed with lung cancer reach out to me, I would love to correspond and discuss histories. Thanks for reading my story.
  19. I was diagnosed with lung cancer in August of 2011 out of the blue, totally unexpected. I went for a regular checkup after experiencing some gastric reflux and abdominal pain. The doctor suggested an abdominal CT scan. He called me back into his office and told me that, although the scan was of my abdomen, a part of my lung had been included. A little shadow had shown up there that concerned him. He asked me to undergo a second CT scan, this time of my lungs. That scan revealed a prominent area of masslike consolidation in my left lower lobe. The next day I saw my pulmonologist, who scheduled me for a needle biopsy. At the time, he didn’t think that the scan findings really indicated a lung cancer. I was not concerned either, as I had never smoked and had little history of cancer in my family. I was traveling home from a visit with some friends when I got the call from the hospital. The emotional voice on the other end was cracking. I didn’t even realize that it was my pulmonologist. He said, “We got the results from your biopsy. You have a very large tumor taking up most of the left lower lobe of your lung. We have to get this right away. We’ll get through this honey.” It was surreal. I thought it was a mistake. I was diagnosed with non-small cell adenocarcinoma. They scheduled surgery right away to remove a lobe of my left lung. That was followed by chemotherapy. It was a very tough time. After I recovered from that surgery and the chemo, I just wanted to go back to my life. I’d been very happy with my life. I was a volunteer chaplain. I didn’t know any other survivors and I didn’t want to think about lung cancer anymore. They said I only had 15% chance of the cancer coming back so I wasn’t going to worry about it. A year later, the cancer came back. Looking at the scan, I felt like I was in a nightmare. The second surgery to remove the rest of my left lung was easier, because I knew what to expect. But after that surgery and treatment, I knew I needed to get plugged in and started searching online for an organization that could help. I liked that LUNGevity Foundation was constantly posting helpful information and seemed focused on survivors. Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I had enjoyed the experience of mentoring, so I applied to be a LifeLine support partner. Nikole from LUNGevity reached out and invited me to attend the HOPE Summit survivorship conference. One of my friends went with me and we had such a wonderful time. HOPE Summit changed my life. Before that time, I had been pretty isolated as a survivor. When I walked in and saw that many survivors, I was amazed and overwhelmed. Hearing others share their experiences changed my whole attitude. The main thing I came away with after HOPE Summit is “be your own advocate.” My amazing friends that I met through LUNGevity connected me with my current doctors at UT Southwest. Any time that you need support from LUNGevity, it is available. I am a LifeLine mentor to other survivors, but I also have LifeLine mentors who have helped me through two recurrences of cancer. They’ve really inspired me and kept me looking forward. Mentoring is a two-way relationship. If they’re feeling down, I can help them and if I’m feeling down, they can help me. It is so rewarding. I’m also a LUNGevity Social Media Ambassador. I’m a big believer in the power of connection. If we isolate ourselves, we focus more on the negatives and everything that’s wrong. But if you’re out there connecting with other survivors, you’re sharing the ups and the downs, you’re not alone. It really helps. The advice I like to share with other people who have lung cancer is if you don’t like what one doctor says, it’s very important to be your own advocate. It’s your life!
  20. In 1998, Ruthe Cain was living life in California and enjoying being close to the fresh air and the great outdoors. She was in her late fifties and loved living an active lifestyle, but that year she would face a diagnosis that would change her life: she learned that she had lung cancer. More than 15 years and three surgeries later, Ruthe is still a survivor, and she’s still enjoying life in every way she can. Ruthe first suspected something might be wrong with her health when she had trouble with her vision. “All of the sudden, it looked like a black veil over my eyes,” she says. She went in to see her doctor, and after a series of tests, she was surprised to hear that the problem might be not with her eyes, but her respiratory system. “I didn’t think a thing about my lungs. So they sent me in for a chest x-ray, and that was the beginning of it.” Ruthe was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer, and soon after, she underwent an operation to remove one of the three lobes in her right lung. “After that first lobe was removed, I had no side effects at all. I was totally fine,” she says, and she continued to live an active life, snow skiing, and water skiing and getting outside throughout the year. She also kept up with regular lung exams in order to check for a possible recurrence. It wasn’t until a decade later, in 2008, that a new problem was discovered. On a trip from Maine to Pennsylvania to visit her son and daughter-in-law, Ruthe felt a pain in her chest. “We went to the hospital, and they did a chest x-ray, and sure enough they found another node,” she says. With this second diagnosis of lung cancer, surgeons removed another lobe of her lung, and they also noticed some suspicious findings that indicated changes might be happening in the remaining third lobe. A year later, when a growth was detected, they removed the last part of her right lung, leaving only her left lung intact. “I was really lucky,” says Ruthe. “I have never had [to use] oxygen, I’ve never had any radiation or chemo. But this last surgery, it was definitely a life changer.” With her whole right lung now gone, Ruthe had to cope with more serious side effects, such as an increased danger from chest infections and a noticeable amount of fatigue. It also meant some of the outdoor activities she had always enjoyed were simply no longer possible. However, she has found lots of ways to stay positive – and stay moving. “We got a dog a few years ago, so I am able to take her on the trail at the dog park,” says Ruthe. She also loves spending time in the pool with her two grandsons and recently enrolled in a water aerobics class that she attends with her husband.
  21. Cancer advocate to address largest lung cancer survivor conference FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Linda Wenger lwenger@LUNGevity.org (973) 449-3214 Country music star and cancer survivor Wade Hayes WASHINGTON, DC (February 16, 2017) – LUNGevity Foundation is excited to announce that country music star Wade Hayes will be sharing his cancer journey with lung cancer survivors and their caregivers at the 7th Annual National HOPE Summit on April 29 in Washington, DC. As opening keynote speaker, he will relate his experiences before the largest convening of lung cancer survivors in the country. The annual LUNGevity National HOPE Summit is the largest lung cancer survivorship conference where attendees come from across the country and around the world to learn about living well with lung cancer. The three-day event features inspirational speakers, medical expert forums, lung cancer survivor-specific sessions, advocacy sessions and opportunities for lung cancer survivors at all points in their treatment to connect with each other. Hayes will kick off the two-day conference and set the tone of hope for all in attendance. Hayes was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in the fall of 2011. After extensive surgery and debilitating chemotherapy, Hayes battled his way back to health only to have the cancer return in the fall of 2012. The country singer fought back and channeled his experience into his latest album, “Go Live Your Life.” Today, Hayes is cancer free, a dedicated advocate for people living with cancer, and an active supporter of the Colon Cancer Alliance and other cancer nonprofits. He has spoken and performed at numerous events across the country to raise funds to fight cancer and inspire others. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to have Wade Hayes join us for this one-of-a-kind celebration of lung cancer survivorship,” said Katie Brown, VP Support and Survivorship. “His commitment to advocating on behalf of others with cancer makes Wade an inspiration for all of us.” The National HOPE Summit is a 2½ day conference in Washington, DC, that is open to lung cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers. Learn more about this unique event and register atwww.LUNGevity.org/hopesummit. Read the full press release here.
  22. Hello there …. my name is Alisa Brenes and I am a 16-year Stage 3 lung cancer survivor. I guess you can say my lung cancer journey started before I was born. My mom, my maternal grandfather and many of his siblings all died of lung cancer. I am motivated to do my part to end our family history now. I have been a lung cancer advocate for over ten years, most of my work behind the scenes, but little by little I’m coming out and sharing my story. I hope to follow this introduction with more blogs, sharing hope and spreading awareness. I was diagnosed in July of 2000, just a few months after my mom passed away from lung cancer. It still boggles my mind that I was taking care of my mother while the same cancer was growing inside my lung. I had a third of my lung removed and followed up with chemotherapy. I am a single mother of twin boys who were 10 years old at the time. They were in fourth grade and I didn’t even know if I would be there for their elementary school graduation. Thanks to God and my amazing doctors, I lived to see my twins graduate from college. My next goal is to see them happily employed I was diagnosed before social media and message boards were around, the world wide web was fairly new and there wasn’t even google yet. I felt lost and had never met another lung cancer survivor. Within a few months the internet started becoming more popular and all that changed. Somehow (thank you Universe!) I found Katie Brown’s original message board and through that I not only connected with other Survivors, but I was introduced to the first Walk for a Cure (now called Breathe Deep NYC) and have been volunteering ever since. And if that wasn’t enough to keep me hopeful and connected (and it was …) I was introduced by Katie and LUNGevity to Hope Summit! If anyone wants to know what it is like to be in a room with hundreds of survivors (but no one ever gets lost in the crowd, somehow we end up like one big family) just come to Hope Summit. The energy is amazing and you leave the Summit with life-changing knowledge, friendships and Hope. This is not a journey I chose or one that I would wish on others, but the truth is I've grown so much through this and have such an appreciation of every day and the friends I now call family that I've met through lung cancer have enriched my life beyond words! As strange as it might sound to some, I can actually say that my cancer diagnosis brought me many blessings. It is my desire to share hope and friendship with other survivors and help spread awareness so one day we will live in a world where no one dies of lung cancer.
  23. I had never experienced anyone personally having cancer until my mom. To watch her rapid change in a year was very shocking for us all. Although, her cancer did go into remission, the damage from the chemo had done a toll on her body. I would share encouraging words to my mom during the process. "You are stronger than you know strength to be." She would smile and say "Thank you." Out of the whole family, I was the most calm throughout this experience. And I often wondered why? I know now that is was the faith that I stood on and I knew that one day she would be pain free. Her last few words to me was to keep going. I was there with my mom in her last conscious moments before the dilaudid was given and that's something I will never forget. She went right to sleep.. When my mom transitioned, I spoke at her memorial service and I encouraged everyone there to smile knowing that there's a new cheerleader on your side! I want to encourage everyone with that. Anyone who has loss a loved one...you have a new cheerleader/fan on your side. Constantly cheering you on. We cannot see them physically, but we can sure feel them energetically! Encourage someone today! http://tiny.cc/sharemylove
  24. What Not to Say to a Cancer Patient By: Jane E. Brody What do you think is the most commonly asked question of a person who has, or has had, cancer? If you guessed, “How are you?” you got it right. But as caring as those words may seem, they are often not helpful and may even be harmful. At a celebratory family gathering a year after my own cancer treatment, a distant relative asked me just that. I answered, “I’m fine.” She then pressed, “How are you really?” “Really” I was fine, I told her. But what if I hadn’t been? Would I have wanted to launch into a description of bad medical news at what was supposed to be a fun event? Would I have wanted even to be reminded of a bout with cancer? Although my relative undoubtedly meant well, the way her concern was expressed struck me as intrusive. A diagnosis of cancer can tie the tongues of friends and family members or prompt them to utter inappropriate, albeit well-meaning, comments. Some who don’t know what to say simply avoid the cancer patient altogether, an act that can be more painful than if they said or did the wrong thing. A new book, “Loving, Supporting, and Caring for the Cancer Patient,” by a man who has been treated for a potentially life-threatening cancer and who has counseled dozens of others dealing with this disease, got me thinking about the best ways to talk with someone facing cancer — its diagnosis, treatment and aftermath. The book’s author, Stan Goldberg, happens to be a communications specialist, a professor emeritus of communicative disorders at San Francisco State University. Dr. Goldberg learned at age 57 that he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. He said in an interview that cancer patients too often encounter people who assume the role of cheerleader, saying things like “Don’t worry about it,” “You’ll be fine,” “We’ll battle this together,” “They’ll find a cure.” However, he observed, “Words of optimism may work in the short run, but in the long run they can induce guilt if the cancer is more virulent and defeats a person’s best effort. “I was dealing with the possibility that my life would end shortly, or if it didn’t, it would be changed dramatically. False optimism devalued what was going on in my body. People were insensitive not from a lack of compassion but from not knowing what is really helpful.” What he and those he’s counseled have found to be most helpful were not words but actions, not “Let me know what I can do to help,” which places the burden on the patient, but “I’ll be bringing dinner for your family this week. What day is best for you?” As a self-described “independent cuss” reluctant to ask anyone for help, Dr. Goldberg said his son taught him this important lesson. “He came to my house during my recovery from surgery and said ‘Stop lifting those boxes, Dad. I’ll do it for you.’” Another author of very helpful books on living with cancer is Dr. Wendy Schlessel Harpham, who has had a recurring cancer for more than two decades. She suggests that people offer specific ways they can help. For example, they may say they can shop for groceries, care for children, take the dog for a run, or accompany the patient to the doctor, and then be sure to follow through with the offer. Many people now use online sites like caringbridge.org to keep people up to date on their health and needs or organizing platforms such as mealtrain.com or lotsahelpinghands.com to ask for specific help. Dr. Harpham said she came to dread the query “How are you?” because “no matter how it was intended, being asked ‘How are you?’ rattled my heightened sense of vulnerability. I found myself consoling those who asked and then fighting the contagion of grief and fear. Even when the news was good, I didn’t have the energy to include all the people who wanted updates.” Dr. Goldberg suggests that when visiting a cancer patient, people talk less and listen more. ”Often the greatest support comes from silently witnessing what a person with cancer is experiencing,” he wrote. “Sometimes only a calm presence and compassionate listening are necessary. Silence becomes the breathing space in which people living with cancer can begin difficult conversations.” In an article in Prevention magazine, Melissa Fiorenza offered this helpful suggestion for what to say to someone you deeply care for: “Feel free to cry with me, to talk, or not to talk. I’ll take my lead from you.” When talking, Dr. Goldberg suggested, “engage more in conversations and less in question-and-answer interactions.” But if questions are asked, they should be open-ended ones like “Do you want to tell me about your cancer and what you’re going through? Maybe I can find ways to be helpful.” Among the many suggested “don’ts” are these: • Don’t make light of a patient’s physical changes by saying things like “At least you finally lost those extra pounds.” • Don’t talk about other patients with similar cancers, even if they fared well — no two cancers are alike. It’s fine, though, to ask if the patient would like to talk with someone else who’s been through it. • Don’t say the patient is lucky to have one kind of cancer rather than another, which downplays what the person is going through. There’s nothing lucky about having cancer even if it’s a “good” cancer. • Don’t say “I know how you feel” because you can’t possibly know. Better to ask, “Do you want to talk about how you feel, how having cancer is affecting you?” • Don’t offer information about unproven treatments or referrals to doctors with questionable credentials. • Don’t suggest that the person’s lifestyle is to blame for the disease, even if it may have been a contributing cause. Blame is not helpful. Many factors influence cancer risk; even for lifelong smokers, getting cancer is often just bad luck. • Don’t preach to the patient about staying positive, which can induce feelings of guilt in the patient if things don’t go well. Better to say, “I’m here for you no matter what happens,” and mean it. • Don’t ask about prognosis. If the patient volunteers that information, it’s O.K. to talk further about its implications. Otherwise, it’s better to stifle your curiosity. • Don’t burden the patient with your own feelings of distress, although it’s fine to say, “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” If you feel overwhelmed by the prospect of interacting with a person with cancer, it’s better to say, “I don’t know what to say” than to say nothing at all or to avoid the person entirely, who may then feel abandoned and think you don’t care. This story was published on nytimes.com on 11/28/16. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/well/live/what-not-to-say-to-a-cancer-patient.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
  25. Nothing can prepare a man and his family for a lung cancer diagnosis. I remember the night five years ago when my mom called me with bad news. My uncle, Keith, had just been diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. Keith is my dad’s youngest brother, who is always making everyone laugh and giving the best bear hugs. He is a husband, father, and small business owner who coached all of his kids’ youth sports teams and never missed a game. My grandfather passed away from paranasal sinus cancer when Keith was seven, so he grew up without really knowing his dad. Because of that experience, Keith is determined to never leave an empty seat at an important family event. The night we found out that our beloved uncle had lung cancer, my sister and I cried together and hugged each other for a long time. We started asking questions like, “How did this happen?” and “Why him?” and “What does this mean?” Then we realized there was only one question we could actually attempt to answer: “What do we do about it?” My mom was at our local farmer’s market when by chance, she met Cindy, the founder of Breathe Deep Baltimore, one of LUNGevity’s grassroots events. Cindy started the Breathe Deep Baltimore walk in 2008 in loving memory of her mom. The event was taking place in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Monica Barlow, the Orioles’ former PR Director who had the same ALK-positive lung cancer as my uncle, was the keynote speaker. We had to be there. Our first Breathe Deep walk as a family was hopeful and somber as we celebrated survivors and honored those we’ve lost to this terrible disease. Monica spoke about the groundbreaking research that LUNGevity was funding and how important it is to be strong advocates. That was the first time that my uncle met other lung cancer survivors. Until that day, he didn’t have anyone to talk to who understood what he was going through. Breathe Deep Baltimore felt like my family was part of an important movement, and that we were accomplishing something together that was much bigger than what any one of us could have done alone. I had just finished grad school and all of my work and volunteer experience was in marketing and event management, including positions with Susan G. Komen and American Cancer Society. I decided to join the Breathe Deep Baltimore committee and help plan future events. I had no idea then that this group of wonderful people would become like family to me. This September marked my uncle’s fifth year as a survivor, a milestone we celebrated as a family. His first year of treatment included chemotherapy, radiation, and surgeries. He took Xalkori, a targeted therapy drug, for three and a half years and recently switched to Alectinib, both with very positive results. This September also marked my fifth year on the Breathe Deep Baltimore committee and my second year as a LUNGevity employee. Working for LUNGevity, first as a volunteer and now as a full-time staff member, is incredibly rewarding. As the Digital Community Manager, I interact all day on social media and our online communities with patients, survivors, caregivers, and advocates. I am incredibly thankful for the people who are working to create a world where people with lung cancer live longer and better because of early detection and more effective treatments. I am grateful for the opportunity to know and work with these people and to help support others whose lives have been affected by lung cancer. By working together, I am determined and optimistic that we can stop lung cancer. There are always an infinite number of reasons to be hopeful.
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