I’ve never touched a cigarette. So why was I diagnosed with ‘death sentence’ lung cancer at 43?

a Kentucky The woman was diagnosed with stage 4 lung disease. cancer Even though he didn’t smoke and was physically active, he was given just six months to live.

Leah Phillips died in September 2019 at the age of 43. Dry, persistent coughTwo weeks later, doctors diagnosed her with nothing more than remnants of a common virus she had contracted.

Taking corticosteroids for a few days subsided the cough, but after a few weeks it returned, along with shortness of breath. A long-distance runner, Phillips now struggles to keep up with jogging groups and feels a “heaviness” in her chest.

She went back to the doctor for further tests and the scan showed she had a clot in her right lung. This happens when air in the airways is replaced by liquid, blood or other substances. This could be a sign of multiple health complications, and the mother of three is pneumonia.

She was prescribed antibiotics, but halfway through the treatment she began coughing up blood. Doctors gave her stronger antibiotics and then hospitalized her for four days for further tests and observation.

Despite the fact that Phillips had lost weight, was coughing, could barely climb stairs, and had pain in her right shoulder and right rib cage, her medical team insisted that she simply had lingering pneumonia.

“It looked awful,” said Phillips, now 47. Patient Stories.

“I stood in the exam room, crying to the receptionists, saying: ‘There’s something seriously wrong with me. I need someone to see me. I need someone to listen to me.'”

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“I said, ‘I’m not leaving until someone notices me.’

A few months later, in December 2019, a CT scan and bone biopsy revealed that he had stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer.

She said: “My mother, my husband and I were all surprised because none of us knew you could get lung cancer without smoking.”

“The oncologist told me I only had six to 12 months to live and that I needed to get my affairs in order. I was 43 and had a small child.”

“I remember sitting there and tears welling up. I thought, ‘This can’t be happening. Metastatic cancer is what kills you, and here I am alive.'”

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in the United States, accounting for one in five cancer deaths, and more than half of the cases are diagnosed after the disease has spread to other organs.

In Phillips’ case, the cancer had spread to her spine and pelvis.

Only one in four people with lung cancer will survive after five years.

Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type, accounting for 9 out of 10 lung cancer diagnoses. Non-small cell lung cancer usually grows more slowly than small cell lung cancer and usually does not cause symptoms until it is advanced.

Phillips is part of a growing number of early-onset cancer patients being diagnosed before the age of 50.

In the United States, one in 10 people diagnosed with lung cancer is under the age of 55. Experts warn Early detection rates have been increasing over the past 20 years.

Although smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer, the proportion of young patients who have never smoked is increasing.

Genetic testing revealed that Phillips has a mutation in the EGFR gene, which is most common in female non-smokers with lung cancer.

Of the 234,000 patients diagnosed with lung cancer each year, approximately 10-15% have EGFR mutations.

She also wrote in Project Environment that doctors believe radon exposure increased her risk of developing cancer.

Radon is a known carcinogen and is an invisible, odorless gas produced by the radioactive decay of uranium in rocks, soil and water. who Radon is estimated to cause 3-14% of lung cancers.

Radon is a common chemical in Kentucky, so she believes living there has increased her exposure to it.

Dr. Laura Mesquita, medical oncologist, Spain“These findings are a major step forward for the treatment of cancer,” he said at an oncology conference earlier this summer. “Radon is the leading cause of cancer in non-smokers. Radon is also a risk factor for younger people.”

She said this could be due to exposure to radon from birth, which can get into homes through contaminated soil. And a 2019 report said: Nature Radon exposure has been found to be increasing in homes as modern buildings become more airtight, trapping the chemicals inside.

Phillips immediately began taking osimertinib, an oral chemotherapy drug used specifically to treat non-small cell lung cancer in patients with the genetic mutation.

After a year of treatment, the main tumor in his right lung had shrunk by 70 percent and the bone lesions had also subsided.

In November 2020, she began eight intensive radiation treatments to attack the remaining cancer.

The cancer has been stable since then, but chemotherapy drugs are estimated to only keep the cancer in check for two to three years, after which it can grow again and spread.

Phillips’ condition has been stabilized by medication for four and a half years, but doctors believe the drugs are no longer effective, and even if they continue to work, they are unlikely to shrink the tumor any further.

“It’s not a question of if I’ll progress, but when,” she said. “I feel like I’m on borrowed time. There are no formal next steps.”

“I will never be in remission. I will never be cured.”

Although Phillips’s outlook is bleak, she now encourages other young people to advocate for themselves with doctors and avoid being turned down.

She said: “What if I never got an education? What if I never stood up for myself? What if I never had the financial means or the insurance to keep coming back? My heart breaks for those people.”

“Being ignored is not my style. I’m not a confrontational person, but when I’m passionate about something, I stand by my beliefs. And I knew I deserved better care than the care I was getting.”

“You have to be your own advocate, and if you feel like you can’t do that yourself, you need to find someone who can.”