Anita Figueras

We are extremely saddened to say that on June 27, 2019, Anita Figueras passed away. Anita was a valued member of the Lung Cancer community and an incredible advocate and avid writer. We are so honored that Anita shared her story and so much of her experience with our community. She will be deeply missed.

Anita Figueras has been a lung cancer patient since 2014, when she was diagnosed with stage IV adenocarcinoma. She has an EGFR mutation, and has developed the T790M resistance mutation. Anita is on her third line of treatment. She participated in the Clovis Pharmaceuticals’ phase II trial for CO-1686, and spoke to the FDA’s Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee about her experience on the experimental drug. She was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago, and has long experience with living with a chronic illness.

Anita’s first experience with lung cancer advocacy was delivering a sermon to her church about living with a terminal diagnosis. She has since become active with the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE initiative, raising money for research and giving talks about the patient perspective at events. She has attended conferences, is a mentor to patients with similar diagnoses, and is active in several online patient support groups. Anita has been blogging for a decade, changing her focus since her diagnosis to issues that affect lung cancer patients and her personal experience with the disease and treatment.

Anita has degrees in studio art, accounting, and public administration. At the time of her diagnosis, she was the finance manager for a local Cooperative Extension agency, where she also did some work with farm business management education. She is grateful she was able to retire shortly after diagnosis. Anita lives with her husband on 137 acres of mixed hardwood forest and beaver pond in northern New York, in a solar powered home designed and built by her husband. She has two adult children and three grandchildren. She’s an avid knitter and reader, deeply interested in science, the arts, and current events.

Click here to read all of Anita's articles on LungCancer.net.