You, my friends, know that I am living with lung cancer. I cannot believe that! "Living with"! 17 months after diagnosis, I am taking a daily pill based on a genetic analysis of my tumor. Tagrisso stops the tumor from growing, and even makes the places to which it spread clear up. My hip bone and breast bone are clean. Hooray For Science!
A little background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the US and Norway. But the survival rate has improved. One US article said that the survival rate improved 26% in the last 5 years.(1) Bjørn Henning Grønberg, renowned cancer specialist here in Norway, said in 2019, "This is a new reality. Lung cancer patients with metastases used to have a survival rate of no more than one to two years. But now patients can live three, five and 10 years. Before, I rarely got to know my patients because they died so quickly, while now I have patients in treatment for many years."(2)
My personal cancer has started to overpower the Tagrisso, an EGFR inhibitor. Tagrisso, developed by AstraZeneca, was approved in the European Commission in February 2016. Those of us with EGFR cancer cells which have progressed, now have another new treatment, approved in September 2020, which is Alimta chemotherapy.
What is the story here? Scientific research! The whole world faces lung cancer. Europe, the UK, and the US are working together to save lives. My life! In the US, the National Institutes of Health (Turning Discovery into Health) works to reduce cancer deaths. "Between 1991 and 2014, cancer death rates went down 25 percent."(3) This is overall, not just lung cancer.
I am horrified at the Trump administrations' executive orders stopping the NIH from doing business. They can't have grant review panel meetings. They can't hire anyone. They can't travel. They can't even communicate! DOGE could decide to shut them down, for all I know. Gee, look at all the money that would save. Don't look at all the people that would kill.
1) https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/state-of-lung-cancer-2024
2) https://www.healthtalk.no/bjorn-henning-gronberg-immunterapi-keynote-studien/lungekreftpasienter-lever-mye-lenger-med-immunterapi-vil-endre-behandlingspraksis/106494
3) https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/nih-turning-discovery-into-health/our-biggest-health-challenges/cancer
You give us all hope Pilla!
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