They say life is full of surprises but lung cancer wasn’t a surprise I ever imagined.
I started feeling dizzy in the spring of 2012. I was living a busy life with an active 5 year old son and husband who was away abroad half of the time, so I put it down to just simply being tired and getting old. Being Japanese, I sought solution in oriental medicine, such as acupuncture and moxa, but my dizziness continued to get worse and eventually turned into vertigo.
I was diagnosed in May 2012 with Non Small Cell Adenocarcinoma. When an elderly female doctor told me that cancer was very advanced (she showed me an MRI of my brain which showed so many white spots), it felt like a death sentence. The first thing I thought about was my son, who had just turned 5 at the time. “What did he do to deserve to lose his mother? He is still so young.” I imagined my son’s sad face and felt as if my heart stopped. Then everyone’s sad faces appeared in my thoughts and all I felt was a despair.
At the time, ROS1 was not widely known in the UK. Until I was finally diagnosed as ROS1 positive in October 2013, I went through many cycles of chemo and also had a whole brain radiotherapy. I became so weak that I had a social care worker coming everyday to look after me. My father came from Japan and stayed with us to help me and look after my son so that my husband could go back to work. Cancer brought my father, my husband, son and me very close. Every cloud has a silver lining.
I went on Crizotinib after I was identified as ROS1 positive in October 2013. Crizotinib’s side effects were so much more manageable. I was able to regain my physical and mental strength, and, for the first time since diagnosis, felt hope.
I have been on Lorlatinib since January 2017 and stable all this time. I feel blessed to have my family and friends who support me. I am also vey grateful to this group for being a place where I could come when I feel nervous or worried. We all share worries and concerns and offer each other support. Thank you!
