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.

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What is your connection to lung cancer?
I will celebrate my 3^rd anniversary since my lung cancer diagnosis on Thanksgiving this year.  When I was originally diagnosed, I was already a nearly 16-year survivor of concurrent primary cancers of the uterus and ovaries.  In January, I will celebrate my 19^th anniversary after those diagnoses.  I am currently undergoing my 3^rd treatment regimen.  First, I had a combination chemotherapy comprised of Taxol, Carboplatin and Avastin.  That was followed for about 6 months by Avastin maintenance therapy. When progression began again, I was put on my second tier treatment of Taxotere.  After that shrunk my tumors once more, I went off all cancer treatments and stayed off for about 15 months, though I still received CT scans every three months.  The last three scans showed ongoing slow growth in both tumors, but especially in the one on my hepatic dome.  The trend was undeniable, so my medical team and I felt it was time to resume treatment and with a few different potential alternatives to consider, I chose to try Opdivo/Nivolumab.  I have now had four infusions of this drug and have not yet had my first CT scan since beginning this new therapy.  That will happen in the week following Thanksgiving, and I am already looking forward to seeing what it will tell me.  During these past three years, I have never reached NED status, but the treatments I have been given have shrunk my tumors, keeping things well in hand so far.

Describe a typical day
I work full-time at The MITRE Corporation, a large research and development company in the Global Security Services division. In addition to that, I research and review new articles, videos and blog postings coming out each day about lung cancer in order to … read more on Craig Blower’s blog “Get Fuzzy!”

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, while jumping from treatment to treatment in order to buy time for a KRAS treatment to come out.

She is currently on traditional chemo that is keeping her tumors stable at the moment. Her longest treatment lasted 1 1/2 years and was a clinical trial where she had to travel from her home in Rochester, NY to Memorial-Sloan Kettering in NYC. It was a very promising clinical trial for Kelly, and it wasn’t expected to keep her tumors stable for as long as it did. The doctors don’t know why that particular drug worked so well for Kelly. She was the last one on the trial for months, until it eventually stopped working for her, and the tumors had spread too much to allow her to continue. We need more clinical trials like this one, especially for people with the KRAS mutation. While it’s been nice not having to travel for treatment, Kelly has hopes that another promising clinical trial will become available for her when it is needed. She will do anything to fight this disease.

A typical day for Kelly consists of waking up very early in the craziness of the morning … read more on Samantha Mixon’s blog “Keeping my Faith – Living with Stage IV Lung Cancer”

PROFILES IN LUNG CANCER
Lung Cancer Awareness Month 2015

Day 10: Brendon Stiles, MD, Health Care Provider
“Even a diagnosis of advanced lung cancer is not a death sentence.”
Twitter handle: @BrendonStilesMD

Who is Brendon Stiles? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ten years ago, I lost my father to lung cancer. After training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, I am now an Associate Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital. I operate on and care for patients with lung cancer. I have written extensively about lung cancer screening and the management of early lung cancer. I am also a basic science researcher, trying to characterize a new therapeutic target for lung cancer. I am on the Board of Directors and Medical Advisory Board of the Lung Cancer Research Foundation. In addition to being a surgeon and researcher, I consider myself to be a patient advocate.

What made you want to go into your line of work?
I love taking care of patients. In particular, I find that surgically resecting tumors from patients with early stage lung cancer and curing many of these patients is immensely satisfying. I enjoy the technical challenges and instant gratification of surgery.

Tell us about your father’s experience with lung cancer.
My dad died from metastatic lung cancer 10 years ago. Five years prior to that he had entered a pilot program for CT screening for lung cancer, however the program was stopped early and he did not continue with annual screening CT scans. By the time he was diagnosed after a visit to the emergency room, his cancer had spread … read more on Tori Tomalia’s blog “A Lil Lytnin Strikes Lung Cancer”