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Dana Reeve and my curiosity...


janehill

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I know this is going to sound naive but with my experience of NSCLC now, I am more perplexed than ever how Dana Reeve lost her life 8 months after diagnosis. I mean, she was a young, healthy, strong woman who was taken so quickly and, okay, here's the part that may seem naive :oops: I don't see cancer (any kind) as a death sentence.

There is remission and treatment and a long-term plan for what's become a relatively chronic illness. Okay, I understand that your chances are probably better to live longer without cancer than with but 8 months? Even folks 30+ years older than she was when diagnosed late stage still beat those odds.

In fact, it's extremely rare that I ever see anyone NOT make it past a year or two.

Am I really being naive or does her case just sound incredibly unfortunate and rare?

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Her case sounds very typical. Median survival for stage IV LC is somewhere around 8 months. For IIIB

is getting closer these days to 15 months with aggressive treatment. For stage IV maybe 30-40% live a year. I would also think that younger people, though able to withstand more agressive treatment, might have more agressive cancers.

Statistics are dismal here. I was/am hoping that my father could be one of the lucky ones but ... the odds are against us.

Peter Jennings, remember, was gone in five months.

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Jane,

Each case is different and treatment varies from one doctor to the next. Some doctors are more aggressive. Some treat younger patients different than older. I don’t know if I had a different oncologist that he would have been as aggressive. He told me that the treatment he gave me would be the same for a young person. He also told me that some of his colleagues would treat it less aggressive. You have to remember that there are no long term statistics for some of the newer drugs, because they have not been out that long.

The other thing is that stage IIIb or IV can be very different for each case. There are many different diagnoses that fall under these two general stages.

I will pray that your mom has the same results from the Tarceva that I had.

Stay positive, :)

Ernie

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Unfortunately, I believe there are many people who don't make it a year from diagnosis. . . young and old. My 49 year old brother lasted 10 months. Not meant to be doom and gloom but there's a whole lot more that needs to be done before the majority of people who have lung cancer can consider it a "chronic illness". I just don't think that's the case at this point in time.

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But, there are alot of those who do, many on this board, in fact. I know it might not be a majority of those diagnosed with stage IV or even IIIB...however...

My mom was told the typical 6 months to "one year on the very outside even with extremely aggressive treatment". We're 21 months since they told her that and she's still alive and kicking. She was "young" at 55 and relatively healthy, though overweight (that problem's taken care of now :shock:).

With all of this I'm trying to say: It's not over 'till it's over and no one but the Big Man Upstairs knows when that will be nor how it will happen.

Much love and many prayers...

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I guess you could all see my perspective on Dana Reeve's cancer, given my mom's own diagnosis.

Dana Reeve's short survival was always very troubling to me (long before my mom was diagnosed). That woman was not only young, strong and healthy - she had the financial means and fame to get herself the best care possible. (I might be naive by believing cancer isn't a death sentence, but I'm not naive about money being a big factor in often getting the best in life)

I know she was being treated by some of the top specialists in first-class institutions. Then the woman dies in 8 months post diagnosis - it just doesn't make sense. She talked about being on the most aggressive treatment plan and it seems rare to find a stage IV who doesn't survive 1.5+ years, at the very very very least.

You probably don't know where I'm getting at with all this and neither do I (I'm sure not trying to stir some conspiracy theory). I just try to make logical sense out of things. Maybe it makes me feel more comfortable to look at statistics, read clinical trial outcomes, drug trials and assess how well my own mom will do.

And if Dana Reeve had been the woman next door, I might think, Well, she didn't have access to the best or etc. But knowing how hard and aggressively she fought, her incentive (having a young child to care for can make your body do things it couldn't otherwise) and otherwise good health and youth....just tosses a lot of my rational thought into the air.

But thanks for the good words guys! I have to try to remember that there are no guarantees no matter how many rules you follow in life.

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Her case is really no different then MANY MANY MANY people that have been dx.d or will be dx.d with lung cancer. Age means nothing. Cancer of any kind does not discriminate.

More and more younger people are being dx.d with lung cancer. Like any cancer, some of us live longer then others, but why that is, I really don't think ANYONE KNOWS!

Take some time and go read over some of the forums here at LCSC. Activisim is a good one to learn about lung cancer issues, and just browse some of what people write. You can and will learn a LOT. I have been living and learning about lung cancer ever sence I was 17 when my dad died from it. For me today, I am still learning.

Sadly enough, the WORLD is naive about lung cancer. But here at LCSC we are trying to bring awareness and education about this silent killer. It's not just a smokers diease and never has been just a smokers diease. You might want to read up no Lung Cancer in the News Forum as well. Many of our wonderful members post important information about lung cancer and the causes.

Most people have the same kinds of treatments with cancers, and some people live and some don't. Only God knows why. It's like saying why do some people get fat when they eat and others don't? There's isn't a black and white answer to a lot of things in our world.

Best wishes.

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Well, I have turned myself upside down and I think the doctors took care of the inside out prospect of looking at things and guess what??? No where on my body is there a "Best If Used By" or a "Date of Expiration" stamped. I think there is only one entity that can make the decision of when my time to go is and the method by which I shall travel when I leave. I am leaving it ALL up to him!!! :roll:

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The memory of Dana Reeve dying from LC is one I will never be able to shake. On the day that I was to go for my first PET scan, after having been told that I probably had LC, I was browsing the magazines in Target trying to kill time until my appt. I came across the issue of People magazine with Dana's story in it and I almost fainted right there in the store.

I remember thinking that if she couldn't survive it, with all her money and the best drs. available, how was I supposed to survive. I was so depressed reading the article. I kept looking for something that would explain why she died so quickly (at least what I thought was quickly), and I found no details.

It took quite a while for me to get over those feelings. I eventually realized that all the money in the world can't save you if it's your time, and as for drs., I happen to think my doc. at Mass General is top notch. Dana didn't get any better treatment than I do, and she didn't fight any harder than I am. When it comes right down to it we are all just human, we can't compare our survival against someone else's, and only God knows when our time is going to be.

Tracy

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The April after my husband was diagnosed (1/13/05) my friend's husband was also diagnosed with NSCLC stage IV. He was gone by Septmenber. My husband is still with us and cancer free. We both were quite distressed by Dana Reeves' case. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you get the goods if your cancer team is not open to aggressive, fresh off the show room floor techniques. I have found that many oncologists are comfortable with the textbook answers and fail to take into account the many, many options that are out there. If the doctor doesn't believe the patient can make it then what can you do? We changed doctors and even then they thought we were in denial. We didn't care what they thought as long as we got our way. Best to you in your fight with the 'beast".

Trish

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It still breaks my heart to think Of Dana Reeves death.After so many years of taking care of her husband after his death I thought Now it is her time to live and enjoy her son and what ever life held for her.Then she was diag with cancer and I also thought she can beat this after all she was not a smoker and was so young and in good health.Then she was gone. How so unfair.

Lorrie

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Ugh! I just try so hard to make sense of it all - and I can't. The logical person in me has to see it all fall into place but that just isn't the case with cancer.

Intellectually, I know everyone is different and that we cannot compare person A to person B. And yet I find myself saying, 1) strong woman, 2) young woman, 3) non smoker (more success in some treatment protocols), 4) access to the best comprehensive care facilities, 5) access to top notch oncologists and researchers, 6) access to the latest advances, 7) amazing spirit and most of all, 8) the will to live for raising her young son.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when she died. I vividly remember (and this part was so eerie that I usually don't mention it) the week before she died asking a friend of mine, I wonder how Dana Reeve is doing? I haven't heard about her and her cancer.

One week later I turned on Good Morning America (as I do every day) getting up for work and there was a picture of Dana Reeve with a birth year and the current year and I sat on the edge of my bed - frozen. I couldn't believe my eyes. And yes, I think that was a very surreal moment for me - it gave me a perspective I'm ashamed to say I hadn't had.

I don't think I shrug off cancer but I do have a very very very positive outlook on it. I have seen a woman with later stage Ovarian Cancer (known to be extremely aggressive) just celebrate her 5th year cancer free (yippee!), my colleague's mom just passed away after 35+ years of cancer diagnoses (breast, bladder, kidney, thyroid and lung - both NSC and SC). The woman actually had 5 primary cancers - or 6. Thanks to modern medicine she fought each and every battle as it came and only recently lost the war.

I want to stay in my cacoon and think it's all quite possible with access to good medical care and strength. Dana just blew me away.

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My wife was in hospital and just DX when I heard of the death of Dana Reeves. I never told my wife about it. We were just getting started with her treatment and it shook me a little but we just kept on going.

I guess everyone has a choice to publish or not their treatment schedule and share that with the world like we do here on this forum; I never heard what treatments Dana was receiving. Has anyone?

The news releases only said that treatment was going well. I guess we will never know.

As a caregiver, just be as proactive as you can and try to handle or avoid complications so that treatment can continue.

Ask lots of questions here on this forum and also to your doctors.

We were comfortable with combining Traditional and Alternative treatments together.

Everyone can put together their own program that they believe in. You have to believe.

Take care of yourselves - happily

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Hi Jane....Dana Reeves untimely death shook me up too...especially being a LC survivor...I was very saddened by her death...but like many on the board has said...and I agree...each and every one dx with C...is a totally different case....I would love to think that LC is a chronic disease and in many cases it is...but to say the least....I think we have to come a long way yet...God will give us the answer and cure one day...and I pray that we will be around to see it...Until then...only HE knows when and how some one's time is up....

God Bless Us All...PamS.

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Unfortunately, in my mom's situation she lasted about 4 months after diagnosis. Her doctors were very aggressive, I tried to keep her eating healthy, and she did what physical activity she could. I too, was under the assumption that she would make it to at least 2 years because as the doctors said, "You are young (53) and have no other health concerns besides the cancer so we can be as aggressive as possible." Needless to say I feel very "cheated" that that is only how long we got to fight. But I'm sure someone out there knows a lot better than I do about what mom's path would be. I say no matter how old or what stage or whatever you have to fight! I don't care if you last one day after diagnosis, knowing you tried has got to mean something.

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  • 4 weeks later...

My sister at age 44 died exactly 4 months to the day of her diagnosis. She was stage 1V when diagnosed and never had a symptom prior. Had a seizure at work out of the blue, rushed to hospital, cat scan revealzed brain tumor from lung cancer. It has been a bad year; my mother in law also diagnosed the same month with lung cancer as well (non-smoker) survived 7 months. So some do go quick. This disease is horrible!!!!!

Jennifer

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I read or heard somewhere during our cancer research that stress can play a part in cancer and it's progress. I'm wondering if all the stress that Dana Reeve went through with her wonderful husband, Chris, might have increased the speed of the cancer that she had?

My Mom was diagnosed about 6-9 months after my father's death from LC, and she seemed to think that the stress from dealing with his illness and eventual death, contributed to her progression. She was treated at City of Hope, which is a great cancer tx center and they seemed to agree.

Food for thought...

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[KerryToo] I'm wondering if all the stress that Dana Reeve went through with her wonderful husband, Chris, might have increased the speed of the cancer that she had?

I think you're right. My wife made a similar comment when she heard about Dana. As facilitator of a caregivers' support group the past 10 years, she's seen many cases where the caregiver, seemingly in good health, took ill and died just a few months after the spouse or parent they were caring for passed on. Some even died first!

Aloha,

Ned

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Kerry:

You said something so interesting (and eerie) - it frightens me.

A few months ago, a woman I work with lost her mother to LC and she told me that she'd read an article about caregivers dying unexpectedly, sometimes even before the people they care for. It rocked me because I have known of two cases where that's absolutely true.

In my mother's case, I have cared for her my entire life (she has been ill since I was a child, with one thing or another, on top of a physical handicap) and in the last two months I have had almost daily heart palpitations and have awoken in my sleep feeling as though my heart would stop. The stress and anxiety of my mother's health, or lack thereof, leads me to believe that it has affected my own health very adversely.

So I think what you've raised about Dana Reeve is such a poigniant observation and, perhaps, very very true. Seems so unfair that the people who do so much for those they love with such selflessness would not have their own chance to live for themselves with some carefree abandon once their loves are gone.

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I am not trying to down play this but, if stress is one of the culperts in causing cancer, I would think a LOT more people would be dealing with cancer. And in my case, if stress plays a roll in getting cancer, then I should have been dead a long ago. Just having cancer causes stress. But, then there are those that are long term cancer survivors.

I don't know that I would believe stress to be a cause for cancer. Just my personal feelings. We all have cancer cells. What trigers them, they just don't always no. There really isn't an answer to everything. We tend to always look for a cause or an answer. It's the nature of the beast. But the answer isn't always so black and white.

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Connie, I definitely don't believe stress causes cancer but stress is absolutely linked with illness and a lack of well being. Personally caring for a very sick child, spouse or parent for years will take its toll on the caregiver and that level of stress is extraordinary.

I imagine ten years of caring for a spouse who is a quad had to take its toll on Dana. Now combine that with her genetic predisposition (her mom died of Ovarian cancer) and years of singing in smokey night clubs (inhaling second hand smoke) and you've got multifaceted risk elements.

None of those things on their own may have sealed her fate, but a combination of all three (stress/genetics/environment) were likely to blame. I'm just so shocked that she died so soon after diagnosis.

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Sadly enough her death after a short dx.s isn't really anything new when it comes to lung cancer patients. It's so common for people young and old to be diagnosed with lung cancer and be gone 3 to 6 months later. Although, times have gotten better in the treatment of lc, but the short death loss is still very common and is still higher in death rate then we would like it to be.

I have seen many many young people come through my LC Support Group who never smoked or never were around second hand smoke who were dx.d in May and 4 months later were gone. :( And they left behind small children, etc. So, to me it's just as dishearting to lose those wonderful folks as it is to lose Dana Reeves although the other folks just weren't famous.(not in the entertainment world anyway. I remember may of our members right here who were in there 30's and lost there battles to lc. Becky, Greg, Etc., etc., These people I knew on a personal level and it was very painful to see them lose there battle at such a young age in such a short time to lung cancer.

In Minnesota they have reported that 14 Volunteers of the 911 disaster (Doc's nurses, Firepersons) are now learning they have (serious) Lung Problems (which could lead to LC). Again, none of them ever smoked, but my point is we are going to see a LOT of lung cancer (in more young people) and other lung diseases pop up in the world and it's not just related to 911 or smoking issues. So much of what is popping up is the air we breath and the chemicals you use and breath that can set off the cancer cell within us.

We've had some very long and serious talks about lung cancer issues (as to why this person got it and that person didn't or why this person lived longer then taht person?) over the last few years here at LCSC. The causes, the blame factors, the gene factors. It's fun to go back and read over some of those past posts not to mention they are very eductational.

I believe several factors add to why people get lung cancer.(as the same goes for any cancer). Sure we can add stress to that. Stress plays a roll in everyones lives. It is what it is. Sometimes God has a plan.

I ask myself over and over, why do babies and young kids get cancer? That is so heartbreaking to me. Yet, we can't figure that one out either. Is it genes, is it this, is it that, is it stress? Don't know, but it could be added into the many factors that cause cancer.

Cancer is a mystery still in the world. Some have answers and some don't. Me, I just hope and pray for a cure so all ages can be saved.

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