Stage IV lung cancer survivor: ‘Go straight to MD Anderson’ 

By the time I was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in the fall of 2024, it had spread all over my body.  

Scans showed the cancer was in my collar bones, shoulder blades, femur, pancreas and adrenal glands. I also had a broken pelvis, four cracked ribs and six fractured vertebrae. The cancer was literally eating through my bones. At one point, I had more than 40 lesions in my brain, too. 

My doctors in Mississippi told me I only had about three months left to live.  

But I’m still here more than a year later — and I show no evidence of disease. I’m convinced it’s because I went to MD Anderson. 

My unexpected stage IV lung cancer diagnosis

I was only 46 at the time of my diagnosis. And cancer doesn’t run in my family. Until then, I’d also been the type of person who was never sick. So, my cancer diagnosis came as a huge shock. 

The only reason I even found out is because I bent down to pick some vegetables in my garden. When I stood back up, I could hardly walk. I felt a sudden, terrible jolt of pain in my right hip, pelvis and lower back. My doctor thought I’d pinched a sciatic nerve. But when I was still in a wheelchair a week later, he ordered an MRI. It turned out that my hip bone was broken. 

A bone marrow biopsy confirmed it was due to cancer, an aggressive kind called small cell lung cancer. It had spread from a tumor hidden beneath my breastbone that no one even noticed until I got a PET scan. 

Why I went to MD Anderson

I’m pretty hard-headed. I also have a lot of faith. So, once I got past the initial shock, I started taking stock. I still couldn’t walk, but I had two teens and a husband, and I wasn’t done living yet. I couldn’t accept the prognosis my doctors had given me.

I sought treatment locally at first, near my home outside of Jackson. But I had such a bad reaction to one of the drugs that I had to be put into a medically induced coma. My left lung collapsed, and my right lung was filling up with fluid. It took me four days to recuperate.

Once I recovered and the hospital released me, nobody could really explain why that happened. We kept asking questions, but nobody had any answers. Even so, the doctors still wanted to move forward with my treatment. By then, I was too scared to continue treatment locally. I called MD Anderson. 

Hope without sugarcoating 

I met with Dr. Marcelo V. Negrao within two weeks. He’s a medical oncologist at MD Anderson who specializes in thoracic cancers. During our very first visit, I told him, “Look: I don’t want to die.” He replied, “Well, you are very sick, but we will do what we can. I won’t give up if you won’t.” 

After reviewing my previous scans and tests, he conducted some of his own. Based on the results, Dr. Negrao told me that the bad reaction I’d experienced was likely due to a particular immunotherapy drug. So, I couldn’t have that one again. 

But a new targeted immunotherapy drug called tarlatamab-dlle was showing a lot of promise. It had just been granted accelerated approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the spring for the treatment of advanced small cell lung cancer. 

I was apprehensive about trying something new. But Dr. Negrao was very reassuring. He explained exactly how the drug worked, which side effects I might experience, and why he thought it was a really good option for me. He answered every single question I had. 

Dr. Negrao is a part of the team that’s studying this drug at MD Anderson, so I felt like he knew it inside and out. That made me feel really comfortable. I also appreciated how straightforward he was. He didn’t sugarcoat anything, but I still left feeling a renewed sense of hope.

My stage IV lung cancer treatment

I started receiving infusions of tarlatamab at MD Anderson in March 2025. After only four doses, I showed a marked improvement. Scans revealed a lot of the lesions had either shrunk or disappeared entirely. 

Dr. Negrao wanted me to keep taking tarlatamab. But we had to pause that plan to address some brain lesions first. About 14 had popped up on my scans between the third and fourth rounds of treatment. By the time I got another scan, there were more than 40, and two were becoming actual tumors. 

Dr. Negrao said full-brain radiation therapy was the only way to treat this. So, he worked with a local radiation oncologist to give me 14 sessions over three weeks in the summer of 2025. I resumed the tarlatamab infusions after that.

By August, all of my scans were clear, except for a couple of tiny spots that were just dead tissue. By December 2025, everything was gone. I’ve shown no evidence of disease since then. 

Why I tell other people not to settle 

Initially, I thought, “If I can just get a few more years out of life and see my youngest child turn 18, I’ll be happy.” Showing no evidence of disease seemed completely unattainable, so I didn’t even think to wish for it. 

I know I’m not out of the woods yet. But my last scans were clear, and I’ve definitely been given some extra time. So, I am not taking that for granted. Reaching that particular milestone is still my ultimate goal.

That’s why I’m still getting infusions of tarlatamab every other Monday with a local oncologist who works closely with Dr. Negrao. I’ll keep taking that drug either for the rest of my life or until it stops working. I go back to MD Anderson every three months now for scans.

I also can’t function day-to-day without some type of pain medication, due to all the damage to my bones. But aside from that, the only side effects I’ve had are low-grade fever, chills, a mild headache, fatigue and some memory loss. I am very grateful.

That’s why I tell everybody now, “Go straight to MD Anderson.” Do not settle. Even if another hospital system tells you nothing else is possible, don’t accept that unless MD Anderson says it, too. They have options there that are not available anywhere else.

Request an appointment at MD Anderson online or call 1-877-632-6789.