I was diagnosed with Lung Cancer in June of 2008, after returning home from a 40th birthday trip to Italy with my family. During the trip, I was having some odd sensations in my left arm, and noticed some hard lumps around my collarbone…along with some disconcerting amounts of perspiration under that armpit. I also had a chronically sore hip, which I had chalked up to my over-enthusiastic, pre-40^th birthday workouts!

When we got back to Seattle, I went to my doctor, who seemed pretty concerned – I went in for scans which showed only a tiny spot on my lung, but also a ton of lymph involvement, bone involvement and brain mets.

After a biopsy, I was diagnosed with Stage IV adenocarcinoma of the lung. It was the last thing I expected, as I thought (then) that only smokers got lung cancer, and except for a bit of a fondness for red wine and chocolate, I have always been a very healthy, outdoorsy, active person.

It was the most terrifying and gut-wrenching news imaginable. My first thoughts went to my daughter, Lucie. My mother died of a brain tumor when I was two years old, and being a mother to my five-year old daughter has been one of the greatest joys of my life.

Being told that I had an incurable cancer that would, in all likelihood,  shorten my time with her, devastated me. But it also made me resolve to fight as hard as I could – not only to live longer for her, but also make a difference for others given this diagnosis.

Since then, after going through treatment – consisting of whole brain radiation and chemo, which went surprisingly well, given their nature, I have become much more focused on what I want to do, both personally and professionally — personally I want to work on maintaining excellent health, traveling and spending time with my family and friends, and professionally I am splitting my time between my communications job and doing advocacy work on behalf of the Partnership and for my oncologist’s non-profit, GRACE.

I believe we are now entering a phase of hope, where targeted therapies seem to be gaining ground in the battle.  That’s definitely something to hang on to if you’re unlucky enough to get this disease – even five years ago, we didn’t have as many options for therapy. I’m past my one year mark, and so far, my once a month maintenance therapy seems to be holding the beast at bay, which makes me feel incredibly fortunate, and also humbled, as I know that everyone’s struggle with this disease is different.