Hope With Answers: Living With Lung Cancer

Lung Cancer DIagnosis and Annabelle Gurwitch: When Lung Cancer Goes Citrus

It’s Not Covid? It’s Lung Cancer?
A lung cancer diagnosis was the shocker to the year Annabelle Gurwitch already had going in 2020. She went to have a Covid test and left with a lung cancer diagnosis. She’s an actress, activist, and author of five books including I See You Made an Effort. In 2020, she’d written a new book and started as a co-host on a podcast called Tiny Victories. Now she is sharing her lung cancer diagnosis story - as only Annabelle would, with humor.
View Show Notes | Transcription
When Lung Cancer Goes Citrus
 
When she went to have a cough checked out last year thinking it might be Covid, she came away with the shocking diagnosis of stage IV lung cancer. She is grateful for lung cancer research funding and how she's now using her voice - and relentless sense of humor - as a lung cancer patient advocate.
“And then, once they said they found something, there's a tumor, the size of a Clementine. Well, you know, when something goes citrus, you're in trouble.”
A biopsy and a diagnosis of stage IV cancer. was more shocking to Annabelle because other than her little cough, she exercised every day and felt like she was in really good health.
Non-smokers Get Diagnosed With Lung Cancer?
 
“What I didn't realize when I was diagnosed, because it had not been on my radar at all, was this growing epidemic of lung cancer in nonsmoking women.”
A 2017 study of 12,103 lung cancer patients in three representative U.S. hospitals found that never-smokers were 8% of the total from 1990 to 1995 but 14.9% from 2011 to 2013. The authors concluded that “the actual incidence of lung cancer in never smokers is increasing.” Another study that same year, of 2,170 patients in the U.K., found an even larger increase: The proportion of lung cancer patients who were never-smokers rose from 13% in 2008 to 28% in 2014. It is well-documented that approximately 20% of lung cancer cases that occur in women in the U.S. and 9% of cases in men, are diagnosed in never-smokers. Cigarette smoking is still the single greatest cause of lung cancer. And today’s screening recommendations apply only to current and former smokers. Yet according to a study published in December 2020 in JAMA Oncology,12% of U.S. lung cancer patients are never-smokers.
Targeted Treatment for EGFR Mutation in Lung Cancer
 
Annabelle recognizes that lung cancer research is a key reason her lung cancer diagnosis came with hope.
“... because I get to have the life I'm having right now because of the drugs that were developed in the last five years. I happen to have the EGFR Mutation, which responds to a medication that allows me to continue a pretty normal life, except for the extra napping.”
Advocating for Lung Cancer Research
 
“I have some cells that went rogue, and that's how I think about it. One of the hardest times in my life was the three months where I didn't know what I was facing. I have to say there was, at least some relief as weird as that sounds in the diagnosis.”
Annabelle’s story of an accidental lung cancer diagnosis is a very common story among lung cancer patients. In Annabelle’s case, getting an accurate diagnosis set her on a treatment course that is manageable as well as saving her life. Now Annabelle is in a position to “pay it forward” by reaching out to others who may benefit from hearing her story.
“These drugs will stop working in a certain amount of time and whether I survive and how I survive, what kind of quality of living I have is entirely dependent on lung cancer research funding.”
Annabelle is determined as a writer and a storyteller, to share her story, her lung cancer diagnosis, and how she’s living with it and the incredible tight rope she’s now walking. In becoming an advocate for lung cancer research, a story about a lung cancer diagnosis and Annabelle Gurwitch sets the stage for the next chapter in her life.

NEW Lung Cancer Screening Recommendations: What does that mean?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recently changed the guidelines for lung cancer screening. Listen to two experts who helped establish the first set of screening guidelines. Then hear from a patient advocate living with lung cancer on how the change in screening is a step in the right direction.
Guests:
Dr. Denise Aberle, LCFA Scientific Advisory Board member
David Sturges, LCFA Co-founder and lung cancer survivor
Terri Conneran, LCFA Speaker Bureau member
 
Show Notes | Transcription
 
Establishing the first set of NLST guidelines
The first NCI-sponsored National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) was a trial to compare two ways of lung cancer screening: low dose helical CT versus chest radiography. The NLST was the joint collaboration of ACRIN and the Lung Screening Study.
Dr. Denise Aberle served as the national Principal Investigator of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN-NLST) component of the National Lung Screening Trial. Dr. Aberle’s research also centers on lung cancer and oncologic imaging for response assessment; quantitative image analysis, and oncology informatics.
LCFA’s co-founder, David Sturges served on the United States Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs’ Integration Panel. He was the sole patient advocate at the table for the groundbreaking National Lung Screening Trial’s Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).
These new lung cancer screening guidelines have two significant changes to the previous criteria in place regarding who qualifies for annually testing:
Lowered the age from 55 to 50 so now the Age Range criteria is now Ages 50 - 77.
Changed the pack years smoking calculation from using 30 pack years of smoking to using 20 pack years of smoking.
Although these improved guidelines may lead to more smokers getting tested for lung cancer earlier, there are many factors that might put you at risk for lung cancer. Many people believe that smoking alone causes lung cancer.
But, increasingly, people who have never smoked or who quit smoking many years ago are being diagnosed with lung cancer. Hear from Terri Conneran, member of LCFA’s Speakers Bureau, tell her diagnosis story as one who didn’t meet these criteria. Learn more about her road to her specific diagnosis, which did not follow a direct route.
Why is the change in screening guidelines important?
Besides the statistic that more than half of new lung cancer patients have never smoked or quit more than 15 years ago are not included in the original CT screening recommendations:
These revisions will reduce both racial and sex disparities to enable screening in a higher risk groups and additional percentage of the population who we know are going to get lung cancer.
They will provide greater benefits in reducing lung cancer mortality across the United States.
When detected early, lung cancer patients have more treatment options and a far greater chance of survival. The 5-year survival rate for those diagnosed before the cancer has spread rises from 18 out of every 100 people to 55 out of every 100. But, the key is being screened for lung cancer early.
“The trial lasted from 2002 when we launched to about 2010, and was able over time to identify that low dose CT screening did in fact reduce deaths from lung cancer because of early detection. The name of the game is early detection because that's when the cancer can be treated and is most likely to be curable, meaning to result in long-term survival. And that's exactly what we saw.”  - Dr. Denise Aberle
And, even with the new lung cancer screening guidelines, there still is an emphasis on screening people who are either current or former smokers. These guidelines still won’t catch many of the lung cancers in never smoking patients who have a genetic alteration driving their cancer.
“While we were talking about smoking and pack-years and all of that, it's true that if you have lungs, you can get lung cancer, right? I mean, you just have to be on top of your health as much as you possibly can. Every breath counts, for sure.”
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

How a Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient is Outliving the Odds

Learn the latest Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) research. Hear from 14-year SCLC patient/advocate for the underdog, Montessa Lee, who took her anger and turned it into advocacy. Listen to lung cancer researcher Dr. Triparna Sen explain how DNA damage repair inhibitors are the “Achilles Heel” of SCLC tumors.
Guests: 
Montessa Lee: educator, lung cancer patient advocate, 14-year SCLC survivor
Dr. Triparna Sen, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
 
Show Notes for this episode
Transcript of this episode
 
LCFA’s mission is the improvement in survivorship of lung cancer patients through the funding of transformative science.
While raising funds to support lung cancer research, LCFA will raise the public’s awareness and serve as a resource for patients or anyone seeking answers, hope, and access to updated treatment information, scientific investigation, and clinical trials.
You can also join the conversation with LCFA on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

V-Day Special: # Lung Cancer Love Stories

Living with lung cancer isn't a solitary activity. It's a daily action in concert with the support of family, friends, loved ones, and even people who seem to appear out of the blue to offer support. In this Valentine's Day episode, we explore the wonderful ways people living with lung cancer have found support and what it means to them.
Guests LCFA Speakers Bureau members Carol Brickell, Terri Conneran, Lisa Goldman, and Frank McKenna.
Episode Show Notes
 
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

Inside LCFA’s Mission to Fund Lung Cancer Research Grants: Research is the Key to Saving Lives

LCFA's driving mission is to fund lung cancer research grants, the critical early-stage research that paves the way to much bigger funding for treatment breakthroughs and clinical trials. Our Young Investigators grant fund this cutting-edge research that is leading to some of the most exciting, innovative lung cancer research that will ultimately lead to saving lives and helping people living with lung cancer live longer, healthier lives. Listen in to a fascinating behind-the-scenes conversation with LCFA's founders and the head of its scientific advisory board about the importance of this funding in the fight against lung cancer.
Guests
Dr. David Carbone, The Ohio State University
Marta Kauffman, LCFA Board Member
Dr. Triparna Sen, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Jarushka Naidoo, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Alice Berger, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Christine Lovly, LCFA Young Investigator
 
Show Notes for this episode
 
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

Is the COVID vaccine safe? Building trust in coronavirus vaccines

Science developed COVID vaccines in record time, but now that they’re ready, will people take them? Distrust among communities of color, especially historically disadvantaged African American communities, and a lack of data on the vaccine among people living with lung cancer are proving challenging to the vaccine rollout. In this episode, we talk to an African American pulmonary surgeon who volunteered for a phase 3 coronavirus clinical trial, and African American lung cancer patient advocates about their vaccine concerns and what questions they’ll be asking their own doctors about taking a vaccine.
Guests
Dr. David Tom Cooke, UC Davis Health
Montessa Lee, living with Small Cell Lung Cancer, LCFA Speaker Bureau
Laronica Conway, #LCSM Co-Founder, LCFA Speaker Bureau
 
Show Notes

How These Patient Advocates Show the Importance of Lung Cancer Research

What gets you out of bed in the morning? For people living with lung cancer, it's family, friends, work, community involvement, favorite activities and so much more. We'll find out what living with lung cancer looks like from patient advocates who are living longer, healthier lives thanks to advances in lung cancer research.
Guests
LCFA Speakers Bureau Members:
- Frank McKenna, Terri Conneran, Jill Feldman, Gina Hollenbeck, Lysa Buonanno, April Rempfer, Lisa Goldman
David Sturges, LCFA Founder and Treasurer
Kim Norris, LCFA Co-founder and President
 
Show Notes for this episode
 
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

11 - Top Tips for Battling COVID Fatigue This Holiday Season

How do you spend time with family during the holidays while staying safe from Covid-19? Signs of Covid fatigue (like not wearing masks and gathering in larger groups) are leading to another spike in positivity rates just as flu season ramps up. We'll talk to a psychologist at the University of Colorado Medical Center about how to maintain the resolve to stay safe and healthy, and hear from a University of Minnesota Medical School pulmonologist about the latest research and advice on avoiding Covid-19.
Guests
Dr. Laura Melton, Clinical Health Psychologist at UC Health
Dr. David Ingbar, Pulmonologist at University of Minnesota Medical School
Episode 11 Show Notes
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

10 - Women in Science: The Young Investigators on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Lung Cancer

Women in science face many challenges. Hollywood producer Marta Kauffman – the co-creator behind hit shows Friends and Grace and Frankie, and an LCFA board member – hosts an intimate conversation with the driving forces behind LCFA's mission: a group of young women scientists on the front lines of the fight against lung cancer. Learn more about their studies and how they can push lung cancer research forward.
Guests
Marta Kauffman, LCFA Board Member
Dr. Triparna Sen, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Jarushka Naidoo, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Alice Berger, LCFA Young Investigator
Dr. Christine Lovly, LCFA Young Investigator
Episode 10 Show Notes
Resources:
LCFA Grant Recipients
LCFA Grant Opportunities
Donate to help fund LCFA’s mission of funding cutting-edge lung cancer research
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.

09.3 - What is the impact of Covid on clinical trials and lung cancer research?

Johns Hopkins lung cancer researcher Dr. Kellie Smith was in the middle of a clinical trial interview when COVID-19 interrupted everything. Find out how COVID-19 has impacted clinical trials and why she's hopeful that coronavirus research will end up helping the fight against lung cancer. At Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center, Dr. Martin Edelman explains why anyone needing health care should feel confident in going to the doctor for lung cancer care, clinical trials, and more.
Guests
Dr. Martin Edelman, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Dr. Kellie Smith, Johns Hopkins
Episode 9.3 Show Notes
 
LCFA is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the survivorship of lung cancer patients by funding lung cancer research. Visit lcfamerica.org.