lunhs cancer

Next Saturday I have the honor of speaking at the Peter A. Kaylor Lung Cancer Walk in Allegan, Michigan. Peter Kaylor was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in October of 2012, at which point the cancer had already spread to his lymph nodes, heart, and brain. He was given 4 weeks to live. Despite this terrible prognosis, he soldiered through chemotherapy and radiation and lived for over 5 month, celebrating the holidays with his family and sharing many memories that they hold dear. Following his death, the family decided that they wanted to make sure other families didn�t have to go through this kind of pain, and they held a fundraiser walk in his honor. Th is upcoming Saturday will ma rk the second annual walk, and the proc eeds wil l go to fund the West Michigan Cancer Center, which has set up a foundation to provide PET and CT scans for people at risk of lung cancer. The group has planned a lovely day beginning with speakers (including yours truly), then a balloon release (using ...

Sometimes I find it hard to tell the difference between real life and fiction. This is probably due in no small part to growing up obsessed with books, stories, and plays. I tend to see life through the lens of a story: what is that character's arc? Where is the surprising twist? The "all is lost" moment? I have always been particularly drawn to stories of a plucky young heroine/hero (Buffy, Ender, Katniss, Tris) facing seemingly insurmountable odds in a bizarre reality, who somehow finds a way out in the end. This past weekend I attended a conference in Boston for people with stage IV lung cancer, whose tumors have specific genetic changes (EGFR, ALK, and ROS1) that can be treated with targeted medicines. It was remarkable to hear from the rock star doctors who are conducting the research that is keeping me alive. What was possibly even more powerful, however, was to sit in a room full of a hundred people who are on this same crappy journey as me. Many of these people I ...

I am alive because of research. This may sound like hyperbole, but when I think back to how very sick I was by the time they finally figured out what was going on, it is not hard to believe. It was only once the chemo started working that I was able to walk around and talk without getting short of breath. When we found my ROS1 mutation, I was able to go on the brand-spankin'-new drug Xalkori. This incredible leap of science is able to specifically target the mutation, and it has gotten me to NED . How freaking amazing is that?!? Sadly, lung cancer research receives very little funding. In the wake of the impressive IceBucketChallenge, several articles have come out addressing the disparity of funding for diseases. The image below, from " The Diseases We Donate To Aren't Always The Diseases That Kill Us ," shows that while breast cancer (pink circle) and prostate cancer (orange circle) are very popular places to donate, the number of deaths caused by these illnesses is...