Given 18 Months to Live, This Lung Cancer Survivor Is Still Alive 6 Years Later Thanks to Clinical Trials

Back in 2014, Natalie was in her late 50s and had been a smoker for about 40 years since she was a teenager. She went to her primary care provider for a sinus infection. That led to a chest X-ray, a CAT scan, a PET scan, and visit to a thoracic surgeon who told her she needed an oncologist.

After receiving a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis, Natalie learned she might have just 18 months to live. She started out with chemotherapy treatments. But when her initial course of treatment was unsuccessful, her optimism fell, along with her sense of hope.

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"Clinical trials help patients receive cutting-edge treatments for cancer that otherwise would not be accessible to them” Dr. Suman Rao

“It was kind of numbing. It was very surreal,” she explains to SurvivorNet via MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center. “It was one day at a time. I couldn't let myself think about it too much, think too far ahead.”

Related: The Lung Cancer Overview Every Recently-Diagnosed Patient Needs

Her oncologist recommended that she join a clinical trial that was focused on an advanced and promising treatment. She did, and it changed her prognosis and her life.

That trial was for, what’s become a well-known drug, called Keytruda, an immunotherapy treatment used for certain cancers. Keytruda works with a patient’s immune system to help fight cancers like lung, stomach, head and neck, and Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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Nearly six years have passed since her diagnosis, and Natalie is cancer free, and experiencing life's joys along with her husband and children. Her incredible story was presented at this year's European Society of Medical Oncology Virtual Congress along with impressive five-year survival data from the clinical trial she participated in.

Her story shows the power of research and clinical trials and the human face behind them.

Why Participate in a Clinical Trial?

Clinical trials are a key tool in the toolbox of cancer patients and their care teams. "Clinical trials help patients receive cutting-edge treatments for cancer that otherwise would not be accessible to them," Dr. Suman Rao, Natalie's oncologist at MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet. "Patients on trials are also very closely monitored for side effects and often get the extra benefit of the whole research team being involved in their care.”

Related: Stage 4 Lung Cancer Treatment: Does It Work?

From the initial cancer diagnosis, patients and their care teams should discuss options, Dr. Rao says. "Clinical trials should be considered at the first diagnosis of cancer, regardless of stage," she tells SurvivorNet. "There are new treatments being investigated for every stage of cancer." And that means more options and more reasons for optimism.

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“I was excited [to join a clinical trial] because my husband had been diagnosed with a different type of cancer, a very hard to treat cancer. He had already been through that and been on trials, so I was already familiar before I got diagnosed,” Natalie says. “So when they said, ‘Do you want a clinical trial?’ I said absolutely.”

And not just for herself, but “for science,” she explains. “You want to contribute. I had a couple of sisters that passed away from cancer. So I just wanted to do my part to help the cause, if nothing else.”

How to Find Out About Clinical Trials

Patients should discuss clinical trials with their cancer care team, but can also empower themselves by doing their own research. "There are various resources that can help find clinical trials," Dr. Rao explains, citing the websites for the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society, as places to start.

Related: Nearly 40% of Cancer Clinical Trials Disrupted By COVID-19 Are Restarting; Guidance for Patients

Natalie's survivor story offers hope for all people with cancer. "Natalie's story is remarkable," her doctor tells SurvivorNet. "The good news is that we are replicating her story in more patients. Patients with stage 4 lung cancer are living longer and with fewer side effects."

Clinical Trials Can Provide Hope After Chemo

It was after Natalie’s chemo stopped working that she moved into the clinical trial. “I was rapidly declining when the chemo stopped working,” she says. And that’s when everything changed. “I started feeling better even before I got the first test results. I felt positive from the beginning some of it was mindset.”

Related: Advanced Small Cell Lung Cancers Can Benefit from the Promising Immunotherapy Drug Keytruda Now, Too

She remained on the trial for 36 months, with treatments every three weeks. “It was so much of a relief after having chemo. The infusion only took about 45 minutes, and I didn't have the side effects,” she explains. “I had frequent CAT scans throughout the trial, and each one looked better. The treatments were so much milder and it was working.”

Natalie in 2020 at age 62 (Credit: MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center)

Now, Natalie is 62 and has been there for more of life’s milestones than she had thought possible. “I didn't think I would be here for my son's graduation; I thought I was going to die before he graduated. I don't think I would have made it to my next birthday if I had not started the clinical trial,” she says. “It has been a true, true, true miracle for me.”

Her doctor agrees. Noting that about 15 to 20 percent of patients on the drug see long-lasting results, Dr. Rao says, “I don’t think we would have had this outcome without immunotherapy, so it’s definitely a miracle.”

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