It’s been a while since I’ve written a brand new blog post. I felt I had nothing new to say, as I’d previously poured my heart out and shared all the wisdom I could think of to help others who are going through a devastating medical diagnosis, caregiving, preparing for the loss of a loved one, grief, and/or moving forward with life.
And then Thursday, Friday, and Sunday happened.
Every year, more women die from lung cancer than from breast cancer according to the American Cancer Society. Early detection is the key to survival, as my friend Cindy Johnston can attest to. I met Cindy in 1998 when she was my sons’ choir director in elementary school. She was also my handbell choir director in church and became a personal friend. Knowing my late husband’s journey with lung cancer, Cindy contacted me when her doctors suspected she may have lung cancer. Her story gives me goosebumps. She had no symptoms. Here is her amazing story of a series of events that allowed early detection and treatment—and survival:
It’s been seven years now since Chris had the ride of his life to heaven. In honor of his memory, I’m posting an excerpt from my book “His Love Carries Me” that contains an excerpt from Chris’ book “Cancer on Two Wheels”:
A year before Chris died, he wrote a blog entry that he asked me to post after he died. I had read it then but hadn’t looked at it since. This particular entry was so important to him that it was first on his list of things for me to do after his death.
In 2011, Chris fractured three vertebrae. We discovered he had developed osteoporosis, caused by a clinical trial drug he was taking. His doctor wanted him to receive an infusion to help reverse the bone loss as quickly as possible. She told him the most common side effects are flu-like symptoms.
I researched the drug options after we got home to see if they would jeopardize his health. I learned they can cause the femur—the strongest bone in the body—to break. But what I found next terrified me.
I met Don Gallagher through my website. He contacted me after he and his wife had read Chris’ book “Cancer on Two Wheels” and my book “His Love Carries Me.” He wanted to thank me for publishing the books that helped them navigate through his lung cancer journey. An engineer, cyclist, and never-smoker like Chris, he could relate with Chris’ story, and his wife learned to be a diligent advocate from my experiences.
Imerman Angels is an international program that recruits mentors to provide emotional support for cancer patients and their caregivers, matching them with someone going through the same type of cancer and treatment. I signed up to be a Mentor Angel and was matched in 2014 with Kay in Colorado. We talked fairly often by email and sometimes by phone.
“How do you fight depression?” she asked one day.
Today would have been our 36th wedding anniversary. I still miss Chris so much. But I have peace because I can see the bigger picture, especially after writing about our journey through cancer.
Although we’ll never know exactly why God allowed Chris to have lung cancer, we were blessed to have experienced such an ordeal together. As trite and inconceivable as that might sound, it’s true. Our love for each other grew stronger. We learned to not take life or each other for granted. Each day became more treasured as God’s hand was revealed, even in difficult moments.
When you're dealing with cancer--especially lung cancer--you never know when you may need to make a sudden exit due to a coughing spell or, to put it delicately, "intestinal issues." When Chris went to church, he began sitting in the spot closest to the exit door for such an emergency. The greeter assigned to our section, dear ol' George, began putting a "Reserved" sign on the back of the seats for Chris and me.
As a way to remember and honor the legacy of their father, Chad and Shane reserved Chris' regular seat in church at his funeral.
Three years ago today, Chris went home with the Lord. In remembrance, here’s part of his eulogy:
Chris knew that this was his temporary home. We can’t celebrate his life without talking about what was most important to him, and that was his faith. When Chris was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in July 2010, no one understood why he would have gotten that particular type of cancer since he had never smoked in his entire life. He could only come up with one reason: He accepted the diagnosis as part of God’s plan to use him to reach others as he witnessed for Christ. Chris also helped pave the way for successful treatments to be used on other lung cancer patients. He took part in 4 clinical trials, 2 of which were FDA approved while he was in the trials due to the success the treatments were achieving. Chris said he was willing to be a guinea pig if it helped someone else beat lung cancer.
As we near the third anniversary of Chris' death, I've decided to share another special part of his life with you.
Chris’ last month was very humbling for a man who had always been strong and took good care of his family. (In return, it was my privilege and honor to be his caregiver and be by his side throughout this 6-year journey.) He was in almost constant back pain because of the changes in his torso due to a collapsed lung and 5 fractured vertebrae that had been repaired. He walked lopsided with one shoulder noticeably lower than the other due to his collapsed lung. He also lost 2 inches in height. If you could see him now, he’s walking streets of gold. He’s standing tall and whole!
I attended an educational seminar today sponsored by MD Anderson at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. I had an opportunity to chat briefly with Dr. John Heymach, the oncologist to whom I give credit in my book (His Love Carries Me) for saving Chris’ life in 2010. Dr. Heymach not only changed Chris’ treatment plan from chemo to radiation when he had postobstructive pneumonia, he recognized that Chris fit the profile for having a rare ALK+ gene mutation and sent his lung biopsy tissue to be tested. The results came back positive, and MD Anderson’s clinical trial for ALK+ helped Chris achieve “no evidence of disease” within 12 weeks of starting the trial. Chris never had the opportunity to get his photo taken with Dr. Heymach, so I grabbed the chance when I got it!
In February 2016, Chris and I had the privilege of meeting Danielle James and her husband at a LUNGevity Hope Summit in the Dallas area. Danielle benefited from the drug crizotinib that Chris was in the clinical trial for when it was FDA approved for lung cancer. They shared the same rare gene mutation. She is such an inspiration with what she is doing with her life, I just had to share. This is Danielle’s story (shared with her permission):
We had just found out the previous day at MD Anderson Cancer Center (in August 2010) that Chris was considered to have inoperable stage IV lung cancer, which had metastasized to the brain. As reality settled in the next day, I was an emotional wreck, no longer numb from the initial shock of the previous day’s news. But cancer wouldn’t wait for me to gain control of my emotions. It would continue to threaten my husband’s life at a rapid pace. I couldn’t let fear paralyze me. I needed to take action to learn how to best treat it and enhance my husband’s quality of life. I had a job to do as his caregiver, and I planned to give it my best shot. Being part of the team to save his life began with learning as much as I could about what we were facing.
Have you ever been puzzled by the “Big Pharma conspiracy theory?” I’ve lost count of the numerous times I heard accusations on social media that there’s a conspiracy between doctors and Big Pharma to hide the cure they’ve found for cancer so they can continue to rake in money through treatments and medications. I find that hard to believe. Doctors and biopharmaceutical employees and their families get cancer and use the same treatments they recommend to the public. If a cure existed yet, they would be using it themselves. But they die from the disease just like anyone else.
I’d like to fill you in on what my husband and I experienced firsthand and put the conspiracy theory to rest.
Although there’s never a good time to have cancer, this is an exciting era with scientific breakthroughs becoming increasingly common that extend the quality of life for survivors. I have hope that a cure for the disease will be found in the near future. Researchers continue to make great strides in understanding the biology behind cancer and developing new ways to deal with it. Treatments that didn’t exist just a few years prior to my husband’s diagnosis saved his life. He achieved “no evidence of disease” three times, and he lived six years instead of just six months.
Our friend Cindy passed away from lung cancer at age 39, and we attended her funeral in Houston on November 1. That day was difficult for both of us. With Cindy’s passing, four of the lung cancer patients we had become friends with and mentors to had died. They didn’t live as long with the diagnosis as Chris had. He had a little bit of survivor’s guilt because he was diagnosed first.
“Why am I still here and they’re not?” he asked.
Cindy’s death strengthened his determination to be a voice for people who can no longer speak for themselves here on earth. He wanted to raise awareness of this despicable disease and get it the attention it deserves.
The media has done a fantastic job of teaching our society that smoking can cause cancer. Now another harmful influence is causing deaths from lung cancer in those who have never smoked due to delayed diagnosis—stigma. People, including many doctors, still think that only smokers get the disease.
