LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It came out of nowhere for Elizabeth Williams.
Life-changing news started with what seemed like a simple cough.
"I had a cough in 2019. It just wouldn't go away. Finally ended up getting a chest x-ray and then a CT scan and a diagnosis in August 2020," Williams said.
The diagnosis was lung cancer, leading to surgery to remove a tumor.
Understandably, it led Williams to worry about how much time she had left.
"It was concerning. I did kind of think about what do I want to do between now and the days and weeks that I have," Williams said.
Lung cancer came as a bit of shock given Williams never smoked in her life.
Dr. Jessica Croley, an oncologist with CHI Saint Joseph in Lexington, sees this as an example of why you should take symptoms seriously.
"Elizabeth's story is interesting because she is a female nonsmoker. You do typically think of men and smokers as the lung cancer population," Dr. Croley said.
"If you have a chronic cough, shortness of breath. Even as a nonsmoker, I think it's something to discuss with your primary care physician."
Dr. Croley is thankful that lung cancer is more treatable today compared to when she started in medicine.
She told LEX 18 about 20% of their patients are living five years or longer after their cancer diagnosis, a significant improvement to what was considered a death sentence 10 years ago.
"We see more and more targeted therapies for lung cancer," Dr. Croley said.
"Elizabeth's case demonstrates it nicely. She had an EGFR mutation, a mutation in one of the growth factors for epidermal growth factor. We were able to target that with a pill to delay her recurrence."
Williams is thankful for the work Dr. Croley did to keep her alive, now celebrating being in remission.
"By December 2023, it was just really shrinking down to maybe one spot which is what I've carried since then," Williams said.
According to the CDC, almost 132,000 Americans died from lung cancer in 2022.
Williams is hopeful that sharing her story will encourage other people to go get screened earlier so they can get the help they need before it's life and death.
"More and more screenings are becoming available. More treatments are becoming available so don't put it off and think 'I don't want to know.' Information is a good thing. You do want to know."
