After watching my grandmother die with emphysema, I resolved never to smoke. So, when I was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer — and told I had less than year to live — I thought, “This can’t be happening.”

I just didn’t make the connection, even though I’d had a persistent cough for a few months, been losing weight without trying, felt a heaviness in my chest and even begun coughing up blood. I thought, “How can I possibly have lung cancer? I’ve never lived in a household with smokers, and I’ve never smoked anything myself.”

At the time of my diagnosis in December 2019, I was only 43. My kids were 14, 13 and 9. I didn’t know how to look my 9-year-old in the face and tell him, “Baby, I’m so sorry, but Mommy has terminal lung cancer.”

Webinar invitation leads to life-changing revelation 

Once I got over my initial shock, I started educating myself. I learned very quickly that I would never really be considered in remission. As a stage IV lung cancer patient, I would always need to be on some form of treatment. 

I sought that treatment initially near my home in Kentucky. It was OK at first. I was prescribed a daily oral targeted therapy agent called osimertinib, because I tested positive for a genetic mutation known as EGFR. I also had a type of radiation therapy called SBRT.

But I knew that the walnut-sized mass in my right lung might still be sending out cancer cells to colonize other places. So, I wanted the “mothership” removed. No one around here would even consider it. Everyone said I didn’t qualify for surgery because I’d already had radiation to the lungs.

It wasn’t until Dr. Mara Antonoff and Dr. Carl Gay asked a member of the Young Lung Cancer Initiative to moderate a webinar for them in July 2024 that I realized that might not actually be accurate anymore.

How lung surgery became possible, even with stage IV cancer

Dr. Gay and Dr. Antonoff reached out to me because I’d started that non-profit organization with two girlfriends for lung cancer patients under age 50. The three of us were all frustrated by the lack of good information and resources available online, so we launched our own website for people in that demographic. It spread like wildfire. Soon, we were interacting regularly there with lung cancer experts like Dr. Gay and Dr. Antonoff, as well as their colleague, Dr. Eric Singhi.

My a-ha moment didn’t arrive, though, until the very end of that webinar. The topic was “Surgery in stage IV lung cancer patients.” The last question we took was from a member of the audience. She described her diagnosis to the panel, then asked if she might qualify for surgery. The woman’s situation sounded very similar to mine. So, I sat up and took notice when Dr. Antonoff responded, “Well, I can’t be sure without evaluating your individual case in more detail. But I don’t see why not. It’s certainly worth a consultation.”

Pathology report shows surgery was the right call

I made an appointment with Dr. Antonoff at MD Anderson a few days later. After conducting her own examination and looking through all of my scans, records and test results, she said, “Well, you’ve got a lot of scar tissue in the part of the right lung that was irradiated, but we really don’t know what’s going on at a cellular level without taking it out and looking at it under a microscope. I think we could do this.”

I agreed wholeheartedly. Dr. Antonoff performed a lobectomy on me at MD Anderson on Oct. 29, 2024. She removed the tumor as well as the middle lobe of my right lung.

When we got the pathology report back, I was so thankful we’d pushed forward. Dr. Antonoff said that about 90% of the tumor cells were dead. But the remaining 10% still had active cancer in them, even though I’d been on targeted therapy for almost five years. That made removing the tumor absolutely the right decision. 

My life expectancy went from 6 months to 10+ years

It’s only been a few weeks since my lobectomy surgery. But I am already back to walking 45 minutes a day, and I feel fantastic. 

Dr. Antonoff told me that patients in some clinical trials have been living longer after having the same type of surgery I did. She said based on how healthy I was to begin with, she hoped that figure could extend to 20, or maybe even 30 years, for me.

When I heard that, I started crying. Because Dr. Antonoff saved my life and gave my kids back their mom. I know she can’t guarantee anything. But if she can give me just 10 more years, even my youngest child will be out of college. And that’s way different from leaving a 14-year-old without his mother. 

Other doctors kept saying this surgery was too risky. But Dr. Antonoff was bold enough to think outside the box and tackle the hard jobs so that people like me could live. I consider that a miracle.

That’s why I tell everyone now not to waste their time at some piddly little community hospital, or to accept middle-of-the-road cancer care anywhere else. Start with MD Anderson. It is such a special place. They gave me a chance when no one else would. And, I am so thankful. 

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