In April 2018, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. Before this diagnosis, I was rarely sick and had never even twisted an ankle. But in the months running up to my diagnosis, I had started to have trouble catching my breath and when I went to see my general practitioner, he told me there was a “long flu” going around and sent me on my way. I went with my family to Costa Rica for spring break and had major breathing problems climbing up steps and hills. When I returned to the U.S., I went immediately to the ER and after a series of X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and finally a biopsy, my wife and I received the stunning diagnosis.
Sixty-five percent of those newly diagnosed with lung cancer are nonsmokers or, like me, never smokers. I run into people all the time who have no idea that it is possible to get lung cancer if you don’t smoke. Well, it is.
At the time, I just hoped I would make it until June so I could see my daughter graduate from 8th grade. But fortunately, I found out I had an EGFR mutation and my oncologist immediately started me on Tagrisso. It had an amazing impact on the cancer burden in my body. After a month or so, I started to feel normal, returned to work, exercising, and went to my daughter’s 8th grade graduation. It was not lost on me that if I was diagnosed 5 years earlier, before Tagrisso, my return to health would not have been possible.
After about a year and a half of stability, I developed a new mutation (MET). Again, I was fortunate to be able to start an additional targeted therapy (under investigation) called Savolitinib. While the side effects were more pronounced, I again started feeling better and continued working and enjoying life. Over a year ago, I started experiencing a ringing in my ear. Soon after, my vision started to decline. I had a brain MRI that didn’t reveal any issues, but an MRI of my inner ear canal showed that I might have leptomeningeal disease; in other words, some cancer cells had made their way into my spinal fIuid and then into the lining of my brain. I began proton therapy at Sibley in late July 2022 and did it every day for the month of August. Miraculously, it stopped the spread of the disease and allowed me to regain some stability. I am continuing to take both Tagrisso and Savolitinib for the mutations but may have to switch treatments if the cancer spreads again. Innovation and research have played such a large role in my treatment, and I am deeply grateful to the many people who played a role in making these drugs available to me.
They have allowed me to not only see my daughter graduate from 8th grade, but to see her graduate from high school and finish her freshman year in college. My son was a 6th grader when I was diagnosed, and now he’ll be a high school senior this fall and I’m hopeful I will see him graduate and go to college as well.
This experience has also given my wife, Jill Morningstar, and me the mission to increase federal and private funds for lung cancer research. Only 23% of all lung cancer patients survive 5 years. I am lucky to be among them. However, we remain deeply frustrated that while lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer – 2.5 times more than colon cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths, and more than breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer combined – lung cancer receives only 6% of federal cancer research dollars. We need your help.
More research is the best hope I and many others have to keep lung cancer at bay. I hope you will consider making a donation for me, my family, current lung cancer patients and their families, and unfortunately, the many people who will be diagnosed in the future whose lives will depend on a continuing cycle of new and improved treatments.
Please help us raise $150,000 by November 1, the first day of Lung Cancer Awareness Month. This amount can fund a research grant targeting MET mutations and brain/spinal fluid metastases that could give me – and patients like me – more options for treatment.
Thanks,
