Saying Steve Shakal has been through a lot would be an understatement. Initially misdiagnosed, later tests revealed not one, but three growths: a 10 cm tumor on his right lung, that had spread to his second and third ribs, a tumor on his vocal chords, and another...
Over the past few years, Michael McKay has gotten involved with the Lung Cancer Initiative of North Carolina with hopes to draw more attention and funding to lung cancer. From securing sponsorships for the 5K events across the state, to asking for silent auction items...
My story has been a happy journey so far....but that is not true for everyone diagnosed with lung cancer. My name is Jenner Lee and I am a survivor. I was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in 2009, had surgery and have been cancer free for 5 years...and counting! I became...
My personal journey with Lung Cancer and how it has impacted my life starts some time before my mother was officially diagnosed with Stage IIIA at 50 years of age on March 17, 2008. It begins in September of 2005. At this time my husband and I made the decision to...
When I was diagnosed with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer in the spring of 2003, I was shocked and dismayed to learn that the 5-year survival rate of this terrible disease was a dismal 15%. What a frightening statistic! I received treatment at UNC Cancer Center in Chapel...
In the Fall of 2011, I had completed my yearly physical, blood work, and mammogram and thought everything was fine. When I returned a month later for my flu shot, my primary care doctor asked the familiar question- “Is there anything else going on?” Jokingly I replied...
In September of 2014, I was a young mother of a 1 year old little girl. I went in for a routine eye exam and the eye doctor discovered a spot on my eye she wanted me to have checked out. The next day she sent me to a retina specialist who told me the spot was a tumor....
Stage IV Non-small cell Lung Cancer? You could have knocked me over with a feather when I was diagnosed. I was only 58, a non-smoker, VERY active and the picture of health. I did not have the usual symptoms, only a pain in the middle of my back that would not go...
Health and prevention have always been an important part of my life. Breast cancer runs in my family; all were diagnosed in their early thirties and died well before their 50th birthday. As a precautionary measure my doctor recommended mammograms starting in my mid...
I was 44 years old, an active, healthy, non-smoker, long distance runner, nurse, wife and mother of two teenagers when life changed forever. In February 2017, I was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. I promise I was the last person you would have thought to develop...