Historias compartidas

I was diagnosed with stage 3A lung cancer in 2007.  My father died of lung cancer at age 74, so you can imagine how frightened I was with my own diagnosis. 

Stage IV Lung Cancer – a frightening diagnosis, and a shocking one, too, for a non-smoker.

I became an advocate overnight with the birth of my twins.

I thank God for the opportunity to share my story. In July 2020, a CT-SCAN revealed a nodule on the upper right lobe of my lung. The scan was a follow-up to squamous cell tonsillar cancer treated with radiation therapy in 2017.

Broken….In many ways this word describes how I feel about myself.  I was diagnosed with Scleroderma 20 years ago,

My story is all too similar with many you will read. My mother passed away after battling lung cancer for the greater part of a decade.

Late in 2013, 930 miles apart, I sat on the other line of a phone call that changed our lives. My mom had just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer that had metastasized to her lymph nodes and adrenal gland.

I was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014 despite my internist insisting I was healthy and did not need the recently-introduced low-dose CT scan that I requested.

My name is Michelle Hills, I was diagnosed with Stage IV ALK Positive Lung Cancer in September, 2018.

I am a Nurse Practitioner and have worked for 21 years - certified in Family Practice Medicine in the state of Iowa. I saw many, many patients during this time, and diagnosed and treated many lung infections, emphysema, COPD, and lung cancer cases.

Life as I knew it changed profoundly over the course of a few weeks in 2017.

A pivotal moment…can you reflect on one of the on the pivotal moments in your life and how those moments of clarity have given you new perspectives and opportunities for change?

I’m a stage IV cancer patient. I fight to live, but every day I also fight to breathe. In 2017 I learned that my uterine cancer distantly metastasized from my uterus to my left lung. It didn’t spread, it jumped. 

I am asked to share my LUNG FORCE story, but, truthfully, the story is not mine, it really is all about my husband Rob.

I wasn't feeling well for a while, probably three years. I was tired, short of breathe and I kept getting hives.