Rochelle T., NM

On December 13th, I was awoken with an overwhelming headache and disorientation, causing me to be unable to take care of my three daughters, Azylnn (8), Mila (6), and Nyelli (2). I was 38 years old and 29 weeks pregnant with our fourth daughter. My husband Miguel was at work - Miguel had been an Albuquerque fireman for 12 years at the time. He immediately rushed home and decided to have me transported to the hospital as a precaution to make sure everything was okay with me and the baby. This is when life decided to throw us a curveball - after some tests and an MRI, the doctors discovered a small mass in my brain which was causing swelling. I immediately was in shock and scared for myself and the future!

No one can prepare you for a diagnosis like that. There were still so many questions to be asked. What complicated the situation even further was the pregnancy, there’s only so many tests and diagnostics that can be performed so as not to harm my unborn baby, so we waited. A biopsy of the tumor in my brain was done while I was awake, and we just had to wait for pathology. A CT was done without contrast, and a small spot was seen in my lung. A bronchoscopy was also done.

My doctors, husband and I decided it was best to start a steroid to help with the tumor and its swelling and try to make it to 32 weeks to deliver my baby as it would give her the best chance for her lungs to be fully developed. 

I felt fear for myself and my unborn daughter but mainly fear of leaving my husband to raise our girls. And for them to lose their mother!

Tests came back confirming non-small cell lung cancer, ALK+ Specific. I went another 4 weeks on a steroid which helped mitigate the swelling. But at 33 weeks I had a grand mal seizure due to the tumor and was forced to deliver my baby two days later so we could start treating my cancer. She was small, but healthy, and stayed in the NICU for another 7 weeks. After that was when everything propelled into “cancer chaos”.

The first five years after my diagnosis was spent trying to get the tumors in my head under control with two rounds of chemo, 3 rounds of SRS (stereotactic radiation), radiation, tumor resection in my brain and 2 oral TKI’s.  Around year 6, the third TKI was released and helped to stabilize the tumors in my brain. But there was a slight change in the tumor in my chest. So Dr. Camidge, my ALK specialist in Denver, thought we should think out of the box and remove my left lung. He believed that the cancer had been isolated to the brain and lung, and the brain was now stable. Since radiation was no longer an option as it had been done in that area before, he wanted to remove the tumor in my lung. After talking to my amazing doctor in Albuquerque, that is what we did. Three years since the removal of my left lung, my scans have been stable.

I never thought I would see my oldest go to middle school or my youngest go to kindergarten! Without the research of NIH, the progress made in lung cancer diagnosis would not be possible and the targeted therapy I take daily would not be available to me. I would not be here right now!

After my diagnosis, I worried about how my family of 6 would have been able to survive on one income once cancer costs became a reality! No family should have to worry about trying to pay for healthcare. Medicaid should always be available as lung cancer can happen to anyone. And any cuts to the CDC or NIH program would have a devastating effect on the progress in lung cancer research and affect lives like mine.

But here I am, 8 and a half years later, and Azlynn is going to graduate from high school, Mila started high school, Nyelli will be in 5th grade, and my angel baby Rae will enter 3rd grade in the fall. Their milestones are mine and every day is a gift, science and research has given me years with my family I thought I would never get!