It was March of 2006. Dana Reeves had just died and I was reeling. As a young woman with lung cancer, I’d hitched my star to Dana’s, and her loss felt terribly personal. But then I happened to pick up a copy of the Newburyport Daily News. Inside was a story about a young mother of three with lung cancer; Diane Legg. I found her phone number online and called her that afternoon. We chatted a couple more times but our plans to have coffee somehow never materialized. Diane Legg and Hildy… Read More

As you all know, November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. A bunch of us bloggers have gotten together and are profiling a cancer survivor, caregiver, advocate, or health care professional each day this month. Today it is my distinct pleasure to introduce you to Karen Loss, a lung cancer patient and advocate who was diagnosed in late November of 2012 with stage 4 carcinoma NSCLC. Here is her story in her own words. ********************************************** What is your connection to lung cancer? I will celebrate my 3rd anniversary since my lung cancer diagnosis on Thanksgiving… Read More

Nearly 4 years ago, Kelly Shannon was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-small cell adenocarcinoma with the KRAS mutation (more commonly associated with people who have smoked). Kelly was a 35 year old non-smoker when she was diagnosed in January 2012, and since then has endured numerous types of treatments from traditional chemo to 2 separate clinical trials.  There aren’t many options for someone with the KRAS mutation, as there are with and EGFR or ROS-1 mutations.  She is now a 39 year old single mother raising two children, ages 5 and 7,… Read More