What are neuroendocrine tumors, and how are they treated?

Stage 4 Lung Cancer: Why I Said Yes To A Clinical Trial

In March 2020, Sheena P. Was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which came as a huge shock to her and her family. She decided to participate in a clinical trial based on a recommendation from her oncologist. When they performed a PET scan, they identified the area where her stage 4 lung cancer was located. Sheena notes that there is limited data on how Black Americans respond to cancer treatments because not enough participate in clinical trials. Her oncologist made her aware of some research studies underway and asked if she would be interested in participating, to which she agreed.

Sheena wants to encourage other Black Americans, especially women, to be more engaged with their healthcare. She understands there are trust issues but believes taking care of one's health is critical, linking it to the biblical concept that your body is your temple. She recommends African Americans find the right healthcare providers who can properly treat them.

Sheena makes an important point that everyone is dealt a certain hand health-wise when they are born. Sometimes it's a bad hand, like being diagnosed with stage 4 lung disease. However, it's up to the individual to make the most of the situation and determine how they will handle the diagnosis. In Sheena's case, she took action by enrolling in a clinical trial to contribute to medical research on improving outcomes for African Americans with cancer. Her story demonstrates strength and wisdom in a compromising situation.

Sheena shares her practical solutions for the Black community, including being informed and proactive, communicating openly with doctors to understand all options, not dismissing opportunities for clinical trials, and rejecting fear or hopelessness over serious illness. By sharing her inspiring story, Sheena encourages others who are facing health challenges to keep fighting through faith, willpower, and trusting science and one's health care team. Representation in research studies could improve overall survival rates for the Black American community and give hope to future patients with a stage 4 diagnosis.

Read on for Sheena's full story.

It all started in March of 2020. You can imagine the shock of my family when we all learned that I had this stage 4 lung disease. My decision to participate in a clinical trial came as a result of my conversation with, the oncologist. When they did the PET scan and identified the targeted area where my stage 4 lung disease is located. Part of the challenge is in the African American community.

We don't have a lot of data because many African Americans don't participate in clinical trials. So at that time, we had a conversation and they had some research studies underway and he asked if I would be interested in participating in it, and I said yes.

One of the things that I would love to share with the African American community, me being an African American woman, is how we respond, if you will, to health care. I know a lot of it has to do with trust, and believe me, I get that, but when you think about your health care, you know, you read that in scripture, "your body is your temple." It really is just that. So taking care of it and making sure that we find the right providers that can help us is very critical.

One thing we have to remember is we are all dealt in a deck of cards, so to speak. The moment we come into this earth, we have cards and within our deck, sometimes we're just dealt a bad hand and we just have to decide how we're going to play the hand we've been dealt.

For more information on clinical trials, check out our Clinical Trials Resource Center.

Rhode Island Woman Defeats The Odds With New Targeted Cancer Treatment

Ann Malik credits the science at MGH for living and her own positive mindset for thriving

Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Apr 30, 2024

Rhode Island woman defeats the odds with new targeted cancer treatment

Ann Malik credits the science at MGH for living and her own positive mindset for thriving

Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Apr 30, 2024

HERE'S NICOLE ESTAPHAN. YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPEND MUCH TIME WITH AN MALIK TO KNOW HER HOME IS FILLED WITH LOVE. JASMINE WAS SEVEN AND DARA WAS FIVE FIVE AND A PROUD MOTHER OF THREE. FAMILY PICTURES. VACATION MILESTONES FRAMED THE WALLS, MEMORIES THAT AND WASN'T SURE SHE WOULD BE HERE TO SEE. EARLY 2014 I JUST STARTED FEELING MORE TIRED THAN NORMAL AND A LOT OF BRAIN FOG. JUST A KIND OF A GENERAL FEELING. I HAD THREE LITTLE KIDS. THEY WERE THREE, FIVE AND SEVEN YEARS OLD, NOT UNLIKE MANY WOMEN, AND PASSED OFF THE FEELING AS JUST A TIRED MOM JUGGLING LIFE. EVENTUALLY, SHE SAW HER DOCTOR. SHE WAS ANEMIC, TREATED THAT, BUT STILL THE OFFNESS, AS SHE DESCRIBES IT, CONTINUED. I JUST FELT A FULLNESS. AND SO I RECALL ASKING MY DOCTOR LIKE, WHAT IS HERE? IS THIS MY LIVER OR MY OVARIES AND ALL MY BLOODWORK TURNED OUT JUST NORMAL. THOUGH SHE SAYS SHE WASN'T FEELING DEPRESSED, SHE TURNED HER FOCUS INWARD, THINKING THAT IT WAS THEN MY MENTAL HEALTH. I REALLY TRIED TO ADDRESS THE MENTAL HEALTH BY DOING SOME MORE EXERCISE AND AND, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO HAVE A POSITIVE MINDSET ALL THE WHILE, ANNE HAD HAD A DANGEROUS, AGGRESSIVE CONDITION, RAPIDLY SPREADING THROUGH HER BODY A COUPLE MONTHS LATER, I COUGHED UP BLOOD. A CAT SCAN SAID I HAD PNEUMONIA. TWO PNEUMONIA DIAGNOSES FOLLOWED. SHE WAS LOSING WEIGHT AND HER DOCTOR DISCOVERED WHAT HE SAID WAS AN ULCER IN HER LUNG. A WEEK LATER, THE PHONE RANG AND. I ANSWERED IT AND IT WAS THE PULMONOLOGIST AND HE SAID, YOU HAVE LUNG CANCER. ANNE, WHO HAD NO RISK FACTORS, WAS DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE FOUR LUNG CANCER AT THE AGE OF 39. IT HAD SPREAD TO MULTIPLE ORGANS, INCLUDING HER BRAIN. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT STAGE. I DON'T KNOW ANY. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANY, LIKE LIFE EXPECTANCIES. I KNEW IT WAS LATE BECAUSE I HAD BEEN SO SICK FOR A WHILE. HER HUSBAND WOULD CARRY THAT WEIGHT FOR HER. THERE WAS NO POINT IN BRINGING ANY INFORMATION TO ANNE ON WHAT WE MIGHT DISCOVER. YES, BUT I WAS NOT PREPARED TO FIND OUT THAT THE DOCTOR SAID SHE HAD A MONTH TO LIVE. THERE WERE THREE DOCTORS IN THE ROOM. ONE WAS A WOMAN AND SHE WAS CRYING. SO THEN I SAID, WELL, YOU DON'T KNOW HER. SHE'S STRONG. SHE STARTED CHEMOTHERAPY. SHE HER HUSBAND STARTED RESEARCHING AT THE ONE MONTH MARK. SHE CELEBRATED HER 40TH BIRTHDAY, STILL UNAWARE WHAT DOCTORS HAD SAID. A SECOND OPINION AND A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE CAME AT MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL. SHE WAS FOUND TO HAVE A FUSION IN A GENE CALLED ROS1, THE TARGETED THERAPY THAT SHE WAS FIRST STARTED ON A MEDICINE CALLED CRIZOTINIB WAS APPROVED BY FDA, BUT NOT FOR ROS1 POSITIVE CANCERS. FOR HER, LIKE HERS, IT WAS ACTUALLY APPROVED FOR A DIFFERENT TYPE OF OF LUNG CANCER. AND SO WE WERE ABLE TO GET IT FOR HER WITH EVERY MONTH THAT PASSED, ANNE DEFIED THE ODDS. NINE MONTHS AFTER HER DIAGNOSIS, AS HER BODY SCANS SHOWED NO SIGN OF CANCER. SO I WAS LIKE, GREAT, NO MORE TREATMENTS. I'M GOOD. AND THEY'RE LIKE, WELL, I HAVE TO KEEP TAKING THESE DRUGS AND HAVING THESE TREATMENTS BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, ON THE MICROSCOPIC LEVEL, THEY BELIEVE THAT YOU STILL NEED TO BE TREATING THIS. OTHERWISE IT WILL JUST COME BACK. THEY WERE RIGHT FOR SEVERAL YEARS, SHE DEVELOPED A NEW METASTASES IN HER BRAIN EVERY SIX MONTHS. TODAY, TEN YEARS SINCE HER DIAGNOSIS, HER CANCER SCREENINGS HAVE BEEN CLEAR. SINCE 2021. HER YOUNG CHILDREN ARE NOW WELL INTO THEIR TEENAGE YEARS. BUT HAVING THE KIDS GAVE ME A LOT OF FIGHT. I REALLY WAS SCARED THAT THEY WOULDN'T REMEMBER ME AND CREDITS THE SCIENCE FOR THE LIVING AND THE THRIVING, SHE SAYS. THAT'S ALL ABOUT HER MINDSET. SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO GET THROUGH IT. BUT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN LOOK FOR THE BEAUTY IN IT, THOSE SILVER LININGS, THE LOVE, THE CARE AND THE KINDNESS BELIEF IS SO IMPORTANT AND I WOULD LISTEN TO OTHER PEOPLE'S STORIES SO I COULD FORM A BELIEF THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE. SO IT'S SUCH A GIFT FOR ME THAT I CAN BE HERE AND SHARE MY STORY. SO SOMEBODY OUT THERE KNOWS THAT THEY CAN SURVIVE AND THEY CAN THRIVE. UM, IT'S AN INCREDIBLE STORY. AND ANNE'S MOST RECENT SCANS SHOW NO CANCER WHATSOEVER. AND SHE HAS STARTED AN ONLINE MEDITATION COURSE FOR CANCER SURVIVORS. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, DETAILS ABOUT THAT ON OUR WEBSITE. AND THIS IS INTERESTING WHEN YOU ASK PEOPLE WHAT THE NUMBER ONE CANCER KILLER OF WOMEN IS, MOST PEOPLE SAY BREAST CANCER. IT'S NOT. IT IS LUNG CANCER. AND WHILE LUNG CANCER DIAGNOSES ARE GOING DOWN, RESEARCHERS SAY NEW CASES ARE HIGHER IN WOMEN THAN MEN. AND THERE'S REALLY NO EXPLANATION AS TO WHY WHY? WE'VE HEARD THAT COMING UP.

Rhode Island woman defeats the odds with new targeted cancer treatment

Ann Malik credits the science at MGH for living and her own positive mindset for thriving

Updated: 8:00 PM EDT Apr 30, 2024

Doctors might call Ann Malik of Rhode Island an outlier; we would call her a thriver. Malik was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the age of 39, given just one month to live. Today, she is ten years past that prognosis and thriving. She shares how a targeted treatment and her outlook on life have helped her defy the odds.

BOSTON —

Doctors might call Ann Malik of Rhode Island an outlier; we would call her a thriver. Malik was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the age of 39, given just one month to live. Today, she is ten years past that prognosis and thriving. She shares how a targeted treatment and her outlook on life have helped her defy the odds.

Lung Cancer News

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Sep. 12, 2023 — An international team of researchers has demonstrated that a combination of inhibitors may suppress tumor growth and prevent relapse in patients with certain cancers, including head and neck squamous ...

Sep. 4, 2023 — Scientists have discovered two new genes that cause head and neck cancer patients to be resistant to chemotherapy, and that silencing either gene can make cancer cells previously unresponsive to ...

Aug. 31, 2023 — Vitamin C and other antioxidants stimulate the formation of new blood vessels in lung cancer tumors, a new study shows. The discovery corroborates the idea that dietary supplements containing ...

Aug. 30, 2023 — Fresh discoveries about a type of immune cells could give lung cancer patients a more accurate prognosis and better identify who will benefit from immunotherapies. Researchers found that the location ...

Aug. 14, 2023 — Patients with localized prostate cancer have a good chance of survival, but mortality rates among those with advanced, metastatic forms of the condition remain high. Until now, the precise mechanism ...

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July 12, 2023 — Cancer therapies that target specific genetic abnormalities in tumors have revolutionized treatment possibilities over the past two decades. While quality of life and survival are improved with ...

June 22, 2023 — Small-cell lung cancer is a particularly aggressive type of tumor with a consistently high mortality rate. In recent years, the research of scientists has significantly contributed to a better ...

Mar. 28, 2023 — Researchers develop a 3D cell culture system to test how inhibiting fibroblast activities can help treat lung cancer. To simulate the tumor microenvironment and mimic real tissues, the team ...

Mar. 17, 2023 — A new study has revealed FDA-approved trametinib and entinostat (which is currently in clinical trials) can be given in tandem to produce fewer and smaller tumors in mice with LKB1-mutated non-small ...

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Mar. 13, 2023 — Scientists have discovered why breast cancer cells that have spread to the lungs may 'wake up' following years of sleep -- forming incurable secondary tumors. Their research reveals the ...

Feb. 13, 2023 — Researchers show how stimulating dendritic cells through certain pathways produces strong T cell activity against tumors and works in conjunction with immune checkpoint inhibitors to produce even ...

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