English
As Erica Rimlinger tells it
When I was 43 years old; had very few risk factors for lung cancer, perhaps none at all. I ran regularly, ate well, and had never smoked a single cigarette in my life. I have never been exposed to secondhand smoke or dangerous air pollution. In fact, my father was a pulmonologist who warned me from a young age about the dangers of smoking and all other possible threats to my lung health.
That’s why I was so shocked when I received a diagnosis of stage 1 lung cancer. Just an hour before, I was running my usual route with no problems with my respiratory system. He had no difficulty breathing. I felt good. I had no symptoms.
I received the diagnosis because my husband encouraged me to get an MRI during a family and business trip to New York City to see what my overall health was. A few months ago he had an MRI and was diagnosed with a minor medical problem that would have gotten worse if he hadn’t figured it out and fixed it. I wanted to spend the afternoon in the city with the children, but finally agreed and scheduled the consultation. Since the insurance didn’t cover the costs, I covered the costs.
The radiologist found a small mass in my right lung but recommended that I not do any further testing. The radiologist told me it was a “minor finding.” It was like discovering a freckle when examining your skin: it’s nice to find it and know it’s there, but it’s nothing to worry about. When I got back from my appointment, I said to my husband, “See? I’m just as beautiful on the inside as I am on the outside.”
I had almost forgotten the discovery of my MRI, but my family and friends had not. Doctors in my family and friends told me that MRIs are good for diagnosing dense organs and tissues, but not so good for examining the lungs. They recommended that I do a CT scan afterwards. I thought it wasn’t necessary, but I did it anyway.
So I ended up in a radiologist’s office and learned that the mass in my lung, that freckle, had grown 4.1 cm in just a few months since the MRI scan and that this mass was possibly stage 1 lung cancer.
I refused to trust this diagnosis. I had just been running and had no problems breathing. Since he didn’t have a cough, he believed it was impossible for him to get cancer. I felt great, so I must be fine. I sent the CT video to my father, the family pulmonologist. I also sent a copy to a friend’s husband, who is a radiologist and whom I met when I picked up the kids from school. I knew they would read the scan and have an answer better than cancer. That happened on Friday. On Saturday I received a call and was surprised to see my friend’s name on the caller ID. Why did he call me instead of texting me? He told me to see an oncologist immediately.
My husband was away in the military, but fortunately he returned just in time for my oncologist appointment, where he learned the diagnosis alongside me. He had a fast-growing adenocarcinoma that required surgery. When we got home, we gathered our four children, ages 8 to 14. They quickly took in the atmosphere and one of them asked, “Are they going to get a divorce or does my mother have cancer?” I told them I had cancer. The children laughed because they thought it was a joke. Then we all cried.
The next day I had a bronchoscopy, a procedure that requires a mechanical ventilator. A few days later, I hosted a Yom Kippur fast-breaking dinner where I shared the news with my loved ones. That week my husband called countless times to schedule my surgery. I had this surgery a week after receiving my diagnosis.
The surgery removed half of my lung and confirmed that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes. Even though I felt terrible after the operation, I was lucky to have discovered the cancer at such an early stage.
During my recovery, I learned that lung cancer causes more deaths in women than breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer combined. It is so deadly because it is almost never detected in early stages, when survival rates are high. Lung cancer most often occurs when the cancer has spread throughout the body, i.e. when the chances of survival are significantly lower. And yet we don’t routinely screen for lung cancer like we routinely screen for other cancers.
Five weeks after my operation I was able to walk again. Six months after my surgery, my tests and scans confirmed I was cancer-free. While I was happy that my cancer was a thing of the past, I realized that I was saved by a miracle and that this miracle could save other people too.
I will not stop raising awareness to promote early detection until we can all detect our cancers in the early stages. Currently, to get tested for lung cancer, you must meet certain guidelines that are based on outdated ideas. This includes the belief that lung cancer only develops after the age of 50 and only in smokers. In fact, women who have never smoked are now more likely to develop lung cancer than men who smoke, and the average age at diagnosis is also falling. The current guidelines are so outdated that e-cigarettes are not even considered.
I am sensitizing people to promote early screening tests, knowing full well that it saved my life. I founded the Cancer Doesn’t Care Foundation, which subsidizes the cost of low-dose chest CT. I wrote a book about my experiences called “One Scan Saved My Life” which motivated me to raise awareness and all profits go to Cancer Doesn’t Care.
Lung cancer is often viewed as a result of lifestyle choices. But lung cancer is not something people choose, and no one deserves to get it. Today I feel lucky because I am an exception when it comes to lung cancer and I want us all to be that lucky. I will continue to encourage early detection until my story is something that occurs frequently and is not random.
Features
American Cancer Society
American Lung Association
Cancer doesn’t care
This educational resource was created with support from Daiichi.
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