I remember thinking on the day I turned 60, May 10, 2021, “This is going to be the best year of my life.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. Within weeks of feeling that swell of optimism about my future, I began experiencing a series of odd, and, seemingly unrelated symptoms leading to my eventual diagnosis of advanced-stage lung cancer. These included an ocular migraine, short-lived double vision, left-sided chest pain, balance issues, and pain in my left leg that was later diagnosed as a partial deep vein thrombosis.
I never encountered any of the typical signs of lung cancer, such as persistent cough, shortness of breath, severe fatigue, or weight loss, and getting to an accurate diagnosis took a circuitous route.
Maggie McCloskey
The results from a blood test my primary care physician ordered showed that all my blood cell levels were low, and an electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed an abnormal heart rhythm. I was referred to a cardiologist for further tests. My doctor later called to say a mistake had been made in the ECG interpretation. I was told that my heart was fine and I could cancel the appointment with the cardiologist; nevertheless, I decided to keep it. I’m grateful I did.
When I described all the symptoms I had been experiencing to the cardiologist, she suggested I might have a blood clot in my lung and ordered an echocardiogram and a cardiac computed tomography scan. Within hours, I received the shocking results in my patient portal.
The scan showed that I had a mass in the upper lobe of my right lung and that it was malignant. A tissue biopsy later determined that I have non–small cell adenocarcinoma. Further testing with magnetic resonance imaging showed that the cancer had already metastasized to my brain, which explained the headaches and problems with my vision and balance. I had been fortunate to have had good health all my life. Now, I was facing stage IV incurable disease.
Coming to Terms With a Life-Threatening Cancer
When I went to the emergency department several weeks before my cancer diagnosis for treatment of the pain in my leg, I remember passing a woman sitting in a wheelchair in the hallway. She looked frail and had a scarf over her head, and I thought, this is what cancer looks like. “Thank goodness I don’t have that disease,” I remember thinking.
Now, I worried that my stage IV diagnosis would mean rounds of chemotherapy and all of its attendant side effects, including hair loss. Soon, I, too, would be wearing a scarf to cover my bald head. Even with treatment, I feared I would most likely be dead within a year. That’s all I knew about cancer.
Fortunately, genomic testing of the tumor found that it had an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 21 indel mutation, which meant I could avoid chemotherapy and that my hair would be spared—temporarily, as it turned out.
I began receiving the oral EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) osimertinib, and within 2 months, imaging scans showed no evidence of disease. While I was happy to be in remission, I was still trying to come to terms with having a life-threatening cancer and all that it represented for my future.
Adjusting to the Rollercoaster World of Cancer
Osimertinib was effective in halting disease progression for 9 months, but the cancer then recurred in my right lung at its original size. I received stereotactic body radiation therapy, which temporarily eradicated the tumor. When the cancer recurred again, a blood biopsy determined that the tumor had developed a MET amplification mutation, a major mechanism of acquired resistance to TKIs. Fortunately, I was eligible for a clinical trial investigating osimertinib plus capmatinib, which slowed disease progression for another 9 months.
However, in 2024, the cancer began advancing again, and I received a course of a combination chemotherapy regimen that included carboplatin and pemetrexed, which slowed disease progression. A subsequent course of the EGFR-MET bispecific antibody amivantamab-vmjw plus lazertinib, a third-generation EGFR TKI, failed to stop the cancer from advancing.
Additional lines of treatment, including telisotuzumab vedotin-tllv, an antibody-drug conjugate that targets c-MET protein overexpression, in combination with osimertinib, as well as radiation therapy for brain metastases, are helping to control cancer spread—but the vigilance is constant.
Keeping Hope Alive
The theme of my life since my cancer diagnosis has been to “keep hope alive that research will continue to provide me with more effective treatments.” This is an exciting time in lung cancer research, and despite my many recurrences over the past 5 years, I’ve learned to take each day as it comes. I’m just grateful to be alive.
To give back to the cancer community that has given so much to me, I became a member of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), where I help with grant reviews and recommendations, as well as patient advocacy. I also became a member of ASCO to stay on top of the important research underway in non–small cell lung cancer.
Staying current on advances in this disease and mentoring other lung cancer survivors have helped me realize what’s most important to me and how I want to spend each day. I know my long-term prognosis is not good, and I want to make sure I’m living my best life without regrets.
I can’t do anything about the cards I’ve been dealt. But I do have a choice in how I accept this fate. I’m determined not to become a victim, or to be cursing at the heavens. Instead, I choose to live my best possible life.
Maggie McCloskey, 65, lives in Moraga, California.
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.
