Living With My Decisions
On multiple occasions throughout my nearly five years of being treated for stage IV, non-small cell lung cancer, my oncologist has given me opportunities to stop and/or take a break from my treatment,...
View ArticleIn Case Someone Is Wondering
I don’t mind being alive, really I don’t. Occasionally though, I receive well-intended inquiries – electronic and otherwise, from people (who know my cancer story) who are sort of wondering if perhaps...
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Changing My Mindset
I am someone who remembers dates, especially ones that are life changing, but for some reason my ‘cancer-versary’ has come and gone each year without much thought. There are times I have referred to my...
View ArticleFriends Forever
Since it had been more than a few months, today I summoned up the courage to Google my long-time friend and fellow stage IV lung cancer survivor, Suzanne. Suzanne and I had been years out of touch (for...
View ArticleConfused and then Infused
Since March 6, 2009, nearly five years now, save for nine months when I was taking an oral chemotherapy medication at home, every three weeks I have been infused with some sort of chemotherapy drug. In...
View ArticlePiece of Mind
Today I was eating a Tootsie Roll, and while chewing it, felt something sharp against my gum. Knowing my candy, sharp I should not feel, so immediately I stopped chewing in hopes of locating the...
View ArticleAn Unexpected Present
Not that I minded it in the least (in fact, I appreciated it in the most), but I received my first senior discount the other day. I was fast-fooding at my local Roy Rogers restaurant when the...
View ArticleUntil Further Notice
Not to state the obvious (which I readily admit I do), but to be given a terminal diagnosis: stage IV, non-small cell lung cancer, along with a rather disappointing prognosis: “13 months to two years”...
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The promise of clinical trials
Heidi Henn, a program manager for the United States Navy, never thought she was someone at risk for lung cancer. Heidi wasn’t a smoker, so when she was diagnosed with stage 3b lung cancer in October...
View ArticleNot Yet, Really
While we’re exchanging pleasantries here, in semi real time – although this column will not be most read until March 6th (I need to submit it on Monday, March 3rd as we go to press on Tuesday, March...
View ArticleWhew
Originally, this column was to be a discussion about the communication process between my doctor and this patient. Specifically, the time lag between when tests are performed/completed and when those...
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Dear Cancer…
by Jeff Ehlers (I wrote this while I was waiting for my flight in the DC airport following the 2014 LUNGevity HOPE Summit.) What would you say to cancer if you could send it a letter? That was the...
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Teachable Moments
Melissa Crouse is an educator who teaches orchestra and chorus in a middle school and she is always looking for those “teachable” moments. Diagnosed in 2005 with non-small cell lung cancer, people are...
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Living with Lung Cancer
Sherry Guarneri suffered a multitude of physical effects from her lung cancer treatments including hoarseness in her voice from the chemo, losing her balance, losing her hair, migraines, nausea,...
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Happy Father’s Day!
To those who are fathers, we celebrate you and thank you for being there for us, instructing, guiding and shaping us. To those who are still able to celebrate this day with your father, make the time...
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LUNGevity Hero Richard Heimler
LUNGevity Foundation is proud to announce Richard Heimler as the June LUNGevity Hero. His journey since his spring 2004 diagnosis of lung cancer has inspired many, showing that continued research into...
View ArticleSomething New – or Old, to Consider
And therein lies the anxiety. Although, all things considered – and as you regular readers know, I like, maybe even need, to consider all things – the medical assessment of the most recent CT scan of...
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Volunteer Spotlight- Benita Rankin
“When I learned about the LifeLine Support Program I jumped at the chance to sign up and be a part of that. I had met Katie Brown with LUNGevity a couple of years earlier and I attended some events...
View ArticleOne Less Thing
Forrest Gump knew when he voiced over: “Mama got the cancer and died on a Tuesday. I bought her a new hat with little flowers on it. And that’s all I have to say about that.” And if you watched the...
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28 yr old Makes Film After Lung Cancer Diagnosis
“Making this movie means we are not victims to cancer. Making this movie means we are survivors, ready and willing to share our story with the world in the artistic medium that we love the most,...
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