11 Years With Lung Cancer: Living With Cancer as a Chronic Disease

Living with lung cancer as a chronic disease is not something most people understand unless they’re walking through it themselves. For me, it has been 11 and a half years of learning how to live alongside something that never truly goes away. I often describe my cancer as “stable,” because I’ve never really experienced what many call remission or “no evidence of disease.” Since my diagnosis in 2014, cancer has remained a constant presence in my life.

From chemotherapy to targeted therapy

In the beginning, I followed the traditional path – chemotherapy and radiation. Shortly after, I learned that I was ALK-positive, which opened the door to targeted therapy. That discovery gave me hope. My first targeted treatment, however, only worked for about 3 months before a new spot appeared on my liver. From there, I moved on to another medication that ended up working for nearly 7 years. That stretch of time felt like a gift.

When stable lung cancer progresses

But stability doesn’t mean stillness.

In 2019, doctors found brain metastases. At the time, they weren’t growing, so I stayed on the same treatment. Eventually, in 2022, there were changes, and I had to switch medications again. Then in 2025, more progression – this time, multiple new brain metastases – meant yet another shift in treatment. Each change brings hope, but also uncertainty.

Right now, I’m part of a clinical trial. I’m grateful for that opportunity, because clinical trials represent possibility – another chance at more time. And time is everything.

The cycle of stability, progression, and change

Living this way – moving from one treatment to the next – is exhausting. Physically, emotionally, mentally. There’s a cycle to it: stability, progression, change. Stability, progression, change. Even when I receive “good news” that things are stable, it doesn’t bring the same joy it once did. That excitement has faded over the years. Because I know what often comes next.

It’s not that I’m ungrateful. I am deeply thankful for every moment, every advancement in treatment, every extra year I’ve been given. But there’s also a reality I carry every day – the understanding that this disease will likely progress again. And when it does, I’ll have to face another decision, another treatment, another set of side effects.

Some of those side effects have been incredibly difficult. One medication caused severe mood changes – anger, irritability, and emotional instability – that didn’t feel like me at all. Choosing to stop that treatment was necessary, but it was also another reminder of how complex this journey is.

The emotional side of living with lung cancer

The hardest part, though, isn’t always the physical side. It’s the emotional weight. The questions that don’t have answers. How much time do I have? How many moments will I get with my children, with my grandchildren? Those thoughts can be overwhelming. They bring fear, sadness, and sometimes tears that come without warning.

Finding a way between hope and reality

Still, I keep going.

Living with lung cancer as a chronic disease means finding a way to exist between hope and reality. It means appreciating stability, even when it doesn’t feel like enough. It means continuing forward, even when the path is uncertain.

This is not an easy life. But it is my life, and I’m still here, living it, one day at a time.