The main symptom that eventually led to my diagnosis of stage IV adenocarcinoma non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) started in the fall of 2009. I was just 17 and in my freshman year at college when I began experiencing a persistent cough. The coughing became so unrelenting over the next month, I finally made an appointment with my pediatrician for a clinical exam. My doctor assured me that the coughing was probably due to a bacterial infection I had picked up, and she prescribed a course of antibiotics to take care of the problem. But after a month went by and the coughing showed no sign of subsiding, my doctor recommended that I have a chest x-ray.
Even though the results of the imaging test showed an abnormality in my left lung, the thought that this could be cancer never entered my mind. I actually didn’t know much about lung cancer—or any type of cancer—other than it was often fatal and was a disease that mostly affected older people with long histories of smoking. I was young, fit, and never smoked.
Over the next 6 months I underwent a series of pulmonary tests to determine the cause of my nagging cough. One by one, the pulmonologist ruled out tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, and other conditions that would more commonly be diagnosed in someone my age. Finally, a bronchoscopy was performed to examine the inside of my left lung and to take a tissue sample of the mass.
Overcoming Challenges
I learned that I had advanced-stage NSCLC on a humid night in 2010 while sitting with my parents in a room at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in Bronx, New York. Upon hearing the diagnosis, my parents broke down into tears. I had never seen them cry like that before, and it nearly broke me. Seeing them so upset saddened me more than hearing I had a life-threatening cancer. I can’t really explain it, but despite the distraught look on my parents’ faces and the serious expression on my doctor’s face, I suddenly felt a sort of supernatural inner peace come over me.
“Over these years, I’ve learned to lean not only on my faith to get me through the tough times, but on my medical team as well.”— GIANCARLO OVIEDO-MORI
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Two years before my diagnosis, I had become a born-again Christian, and my faith helped me tamp down the what-if scenarios swirling around my brain: What if I can’t finish college? What if I can never marry? What if I can never have children?
Just 10 years earlier, my family and I had emigrated to the United States from Peru. We were used to overcoming difficult challenges, and we were survivors. I somehow knew I would survive this latest challenge, too.
Surviving Cancer
After undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy during 2010 and 2011 to reduce the size of the tumor in my left lung, I underwent a pneumonectomy to remove the entire organ in 2012. At the time, the cancer was staged at IIIB, but just 4 months later, cancer was discovered in my right lung. I now had incurable stage IV NSCLC.
Throughout this time, I continued to rely on my faith in Jesus and drew strength from my family and religious community. I was able to fulfill my goal of graduating from college and was determined to attain my next immediate goal: surviving cancer.
I enrolled in a clinical trial investigating an immunotherapy for lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in 2014 and then a clinical trial studying a targeted therapy the following year. These therapies kept the cancer under control until I could have the tumor analyzed to identify specific gene mutations and potentially targeted therapies that may be effective against the cancer. The test found that the tumor was ROS1-positive, and I was first prescribed the kinase inhibitor crizotinib. I am now receiving the investigational therapy zidesamtinib (NVL-520), which has reduced the size of the tumors by more than 50%.
Relying on God and Medicine
While undergoing treatments for cancer and learning to live with the disease, I was able to realize my two other greatest life dreams. I married my beautiful wife, Amanda, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we now have a 2-year-old son, Josiah, which means “God heals.” Every time I say his name, it reinforces my faith in God and in the future. We’re now expecting our second child.
Although cancer has brought a lot of sadness into my life, it has also brought a lot of joy. I am only human and have my moments of doubt, but I also have great moments of hope. I’m so grateful to all the researchers who have propelled advances in treatments for lung cancer, which have enabled me to live a high-quality life with metastatic lung cancer for more than 15 years.
Over these years, I’ve learned to lean not only on my faith to get me through the tough times, but on my medical team as well. Their efforts have allowed me to have a fulfilling career, to become a husband and a dad, and to live a close-to-normal life. I can’t ask for anything more.
Mr. Oviedo-Mori, 33, lives in Union City, New Jersey. He works for a Christian organization that hosts welcoming events for international students attending universities in New York City.
Editor’s Note: Columns in the Patient’s Corner are based solely on information The ASCO Post received from patients and should be considered anecdotal.
