Jamie Young said she was scared and devastated

[RandyW]

New Treatments Offer Hope for Lung Cancer Victims

Last Edited: Monday, 05 Nov 2007, 5:31 PM CST

Created: Monday, 05 Nov 2007, 4:43 PM CST

Health Matters By Lauren Johnson

She smoked for several years and then decided to quit. Months later, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She was 35 at the time and the prognosis did not look good. Two years ago though, the chances of survival changed.

Jamie Young said she was scared and devastated by the diagnosis. She wanted more than anything to see her son grow up, so she was willing to do anything to stay alive.

In the fall of 2004, Young suffered a chronic cough, increased weight loss and continued afternoon sleepiness. Doctors treated her with antibiotics for bronchitis.

"The symptoms subsided a little bit, but then they came right back," she said. "So I went to the doctor again, and I think we went through that for about four months, when after the fourth month, they performed an X-ray that showed I had a mass in my right lung."

The lung cancer was diagnosed at stage 3B which meant it was advanced in her lungs and lymph nodes. She was not a candidate for surgery. So Young received the traditional treatments: chemotherapy and radiation. After that, she was prescribed Tarceva, an oral medication.

"I've been on that for over two and a half years now, with much success, and I'm cancer free," she said.

Dr. Brad Somer, an oncologist at The West Clinic, says Tarceva is the beginning of a new approach to customized treatments for patients.

"Tarceva is a major breakthrough and it's really created a class...a proof of concept of new classes of treatments that go beyond chemotherapy which is where we're headed in terms of all cancer treatment, not just breast and lung cancer," said Somer.

Somer said Tarceva can sometimes replace chemotherapy, but not in all patients. Somer said he expects more oral medications to come down the pipeline soon.

Young, smoke-free and now cancer free, has advice for other people diagnosed with cancer.

"There's not one cancer, at any stage, that hasn't been survived by someone and that's hope," she said. "That's what you need to survive. You have to have hope and faith."

More men die of lung cancer than any other cancer. For women it's the second largest killer after breast cancer and it usually occurs between the ages of 65 and 75.

[Welthy]

(Referencing the last paragraph.)

I don't know who authored that article or where they got their information, but lung cancer is the largest cancer killer for both men AND women. It surpassed breast cancer as the leading cancer killer in the late 1980's. I also seriously question (but have no facts at hand) that most people diagnosed are between 65-75, or was this reference to women only?

Gee --it's bad enough that lung cancer is ignored, but to totally misrepresent statistics really frosts my buns. Otherwise -- go Jamie!!

Welthy

[RandyW]

I had not noticed that discrepancy and was noting mostly the fact that Jamie was the feature. Thanks for pointing that mistake out Deb!!!

[Jyoung20]

I am so glad you pointed that out. I was a little disappointed in this interview and felt it was directed more toward the negative aspects of the disease, namely smoking. It seemed she wanted to spend alot of the interview focusing on this area. I never saw it on TV (don't really watch it) but I hope they got it right there..

God Bless!!

Jamie

[Welthy]

Now knowing that Jamie, all the more reason for huge kudos for the interview. (Not that I didn't give you huge kudos before! ) You had to face the bias against lung cancer head-on and in a tricky, difficult situation where the interviewer had an obvious agenda. Way to be Jamie!!! You are truly our little ray of sunshine out there in the nasty world.

Welthy