A Kentucky woman was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and given just six months to live, despite never having smoked and being physically active.
Leah Phillips was just 43 years old in September 2019 when she developed a dry, persistent cough. Two weeks later, doctors dismissed it as a simple remnant of a generic virus she had contracted.
After a few days of taking corticosteroids, her cough eased, but returned several weeks later, along with shortness of breath. Ms Phillips, a long-distance runner, was now struggling to keep up with her jogging group and was suffering from a “heaviness” in her chest.
After returning to the doctor and ordering more tests, scans showed consolidation in the right lung, which occurs when air in the airways is replaced by fluid, blood or other materials. It can be a sign of multiple health complications, and the mother of three has since been diagnosed with pneumonia.
Leah Phillips (top right with her husband and children) was diagnosed with stage four non-small cell lung cancer at age 43, despite never having smoked.
“My mother, my husband and I were stunned because none of us knew you could get lung cancer without smoking,” Ms Phillips told The Patient Story.
She was prescribed antibiotics, but halfway through the treatment she started coughing up blood. Doctors gave her stronger antibiotics and later admitted her to the hospital for four days for further tests and observation.
The medical team insisted that Ms. Phillips simply had a persistent case of pneumonia, even though she was now losing weight, coughing, could barely walk up stairs and had pain in her right shoulder and right rib.
“He looked awful,” said Mrs Phillips, now 47. The patient’s story.
‘I was in the doctor’s office crying in front of the ladies at the front door saying, “There’s something really wrong with me. I need someone to see me. I need someone to listen to me.”
I said, “I’m not leaving here until someone sees me.”
A few months later, in December 2019, CT scans and bone biopsies revealed stage four non-small cell lung cancer.
She said: ‘My mother, my husband and I were shocked because none of us knew you could develop lung cancer without smoking.
‘That oncologist told me I had six to twelve months to live and that I needed to get my affairs in order. I was 43 years old and had small children.
“I remember sitting there and bursting into tears. I thought, ‘This can’t be happening. Metastatic cancer is what kills you, and now I’m alive.'”
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer in the United States. It accounts for one in five cancer deaths, and just over half of cases are diagnosed after the disease has spread to other organs.
In Ms. Phillips’ case, the cancer had spread to her spine and pelvis.
Only one in four lung cancer patients survives after five years.
Non-small cell lung cancer is the most common type, accounting for nine out of ten lung cancer diagnoses. It usually grows more slowly than small cell lung cancer and usually does not cause any symptoms until it has advanced.
The mother of three (left), shown here with her family, had been physically active and was part of a running club when she received her lung cancer diagnosis.
Ms Phillips, pictured with her son, is stable, although she will “never be in remission” due to the aggressive nature of the cancer.
Ms Phillips is part of a growing group of people being diagnosed with early-onset cancer, meaning before the age of 50.
One in 10 lung cancer diagnoses in the United States occur in patients under age 55, but experts have warned that the rate of early cases has been rising over the past two decades.
And although cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of lung cancer, the proportion of young patients who have never smoked is also increasing.
Genetic testing revealed that Ms Phillips had a mutation in her EGFR gene, which is more common in female lung cancer patients and non-smokers.
Between 10 and 15 percent of the 234,000 patients diagnosed with lung cancer each year have an EGFR mutation.
He also wrote for Project Environmental that his doctor believes radon exposure increased his risk of developing cancer.
Radon, a known carcinogen, is an invisible, odorless gas produced from the radioactive decay of uranium in rocks, soil and water. The World Health Organization estimates that radon is responsible for 3 to 14 percent of lung cancers.
She believes living in Kentucky has increased her exposure to radon, since the chemical is common there.
Dr. Laura Mezquita, a medical oncologist in Spain, said at an oncology conference earlier this summer: ‘Radon is the main cause of cancer in non-smokers. Radon is also a risk factor in the young population.’
He said this could be due to exposure to radon from birth, which could occur if radon enters a home through contaminated soil. And a 2019 report in Nature Radon exposure in homes has been found to be increasing because modern buildings are more airtight and trap chemicals.
Ms. Phillips quickly began taking the oral chemotherapy drug osimertinib, which is used specifically to treat non-small cell lung cancer in patients with genetic mutations.
After a year of treatment, the main tumor in his right lung had shrunk by 70 percent and the disease in his bones had subsided.
In November 2020, she began eight sessions of intensive radiation to attack the remaining cancer.
Since then, the cancer has remained stable, although the chemotherapy drug is estimated to only keep it at bay for two to three years, after which it can grow and spread again.
Although Ms Phillips’ condition has remained stable on the drug for four and a half years, her doctors believe the treatment will run its course and, even if it continues to work, her tumours will not shrink any further.
“It’s not a question of if I’ll progress, it’s a question of when,” he said. “I guess I’m on borrowed time. There’s no official next step.”
“I will never be in remission. I will never be cured.”
Although the outlook is bleak, Phillips now urges other young people to stand up for themselves with doctors and not take no for an answer.
She said: “What if I hadn’t gotten an education? What if I hadn’t fought for myself? What if I hadn’t had the financial means or the insurance to keep going? Those are the people my heart breaks for.”
‘Getting fired has never been my style. I’m not a confrontational person, but when I’m passionate about something… I stand up for what I believe in and I knew I deserved better attention than I was getting.
“You have to be your own advocate, and if you feel like you can’t be that, you need to find someone who can be that advocate.”