Thanks you for visiting my page to learn a little bit more about ALK+ Lung cancer and my journey. 

I was diagnosed with Staget 4 ALK+ Lung cancer back in August of 2022.   After experiencing shortness of breath for a few months leading up to my Dr. Visit, I decided it was time to go in to see what was going on.    The initial diagnosis was that I was getting older, and out of shape, and to be patient and to start using an inhaler but also to go get a chest X-ray just in case.   I had time to go for the X-ray that night which quickly showed a collapsed lung and an ER visit.  After 24 hours in the ER and some test and a discovery of a nodule on my lung,  I was released to head home.  3 days later, back to the primary care doc (he was out that day), to meet with a fellow to told me the tests came back positive, Stage 4 lung cancer.    

Say again?!   Can't be possible, not a smoker and relatively healthy 49 year old.   Thus began my journey.    After some biomarker testing and 6 more weeks of waiting I was told "great news, your ALK+" which little did I know then WAS actually great news.    It's great, only because there have been amazing advancements in treatment thanks to research and a very organized and persistent patient community.   I'm able to treat (not cure) my cancer with targetted therapy currently which are pills.  Fortunately,  I've experienced minimal side effects but the bad news is that the cancer will eventually outsmart these pills and it will progress, and spread, and keep fighting me.  We need more funding, for more research, for better outcomes for those of us fighting.   THANK YOU for reading this and for your support, it means more than you know to me, my family, and the thousands of others out there fighting. 

More about ALK+ Lung Cancer:

ALK-positive cancer occurs in humans mostly as lung cancer, but it can also originate in many other parts of the body, including brain and breast.

ALK-positive lung cancer occurs in approximately 5% of all lung cancer patients.  However, it occurs in approximately 30% of lung cancer patients diagnosed under age 40!!  About half of ALK-positive lung cancer patients are diagnosed before the age of 50 (compared to about age 70 for lung cancer overall), with many in their 30’s and 40’s, but some even in their teens and twenties.

Discovered in 2007, “ALK-positive cancer” refers to the rearrangement of the EML4 gene and the ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) gene in your DNA, resulting in a fusion oncogene EML4-ALK. An oncogene is a gene that is a mutated and may cause cancer cells. If you have cancer with an “ALK rearrangement”, part of your ALK gene is mutated, resulting in uncontrolled cell replication- cancer.