Republished with permission from the blog of AJ Patel. This is the second post in a series on advances in genomic testing and the future of cancer treatment — see the first post here.
When I was diagnosed 8 years ago with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), I was told I had 6 months to live. It was the worst time of my life, and I wallowed in misery for nearly a week before I decided I needed to take action. I turned to the internet, which at first did nothing to alleviate my misery. But then I stumbled upon the patient advocacy organization LUNGevity and made a phone call that changed the trajectory of my entire diagnosis.
That one call—and the connections and information that came out of it—are the reason I’m alive today.