r/lungcancer • u/Dangerous_Toe_2961 • Jul 30 '25
Question Question about my moms reality
Hi everyone My mom had a seizure Sunday morning and fast forward to now she just had brain surgery to remove a tumor , has multiple “spots” in her brain and a tumor in her lungs. Waiting on pathology for a bit but we have been prepared that this is most likely stage IV lung cancer that metastasized to the brain.
Obviously this has been the absolute worst thing ever, my mom was so healthy , 54 years old, active, never smoke her whole life, rarely drank. I understand now this just happens. We are really scared but after today I am hoping for a chance at as much time as possible my mom is a fighter and ik this is so unpredictable and we will know more once we get more results. But I’m worried, is our only hope these rare mutations?? Even then with it in her brain should I not be getting my hopes up? Trying to stay positive and strong for her but by giving myself hope but of course don’t want to be in denial. Thanks
4
u/user19282727 Jul 30 '25
Heyy! There is still hope. Please don’t give up. There have been people who beat stage 4. Everyone does responds to treatment differently, but also treatments are getting better and better. Please don’t give up yet. Tell her to fight with all she has. There is a chance that things will get better.
3
u/Dangerous_Toe_2961 Jul 30 '25
Thank you. I will. She definitely intends to. She was functioning miraculously after her brain surgery one day out. I’m proud of her bravery
6
u/Atlantis_442022 Jul 30 '25
So sorry you are in this situation. I don’t think the mutations are rare. It takes a while to identify them, but they are more likely to be there when the patient is a non-smoker. And the current treatments that add real time are mostly geared toward those mutations.
If she has a high PDL-1 score she will likely be an immunotherapy candidate as well. Although my understanding is that traditional immunotherapy and chemo don’t help the brain mets. But they can stabilize the disease in the rest of the body.
Usually Brain Mets that are not operable can get radiation, which also buys some time.
My partner had brain surgery to remove the original tumor and then radiation. I know the brain involvement can be very scary.
There’s such a wide spectrum of mutations and types and factors that will impact the prognosis that you should know more about over the next few weeks. ♥️
3
1
u/Cottoncandytree Jul 31 '25
If she’s Asian there’s a roughly sixty five percent chance of having a mutation, oh and they are not rare at all
1
u/Dangerous_Toe_2961 Jul 31 '25
Wow very interesting thank you. She isn’t Asian, but I thought we heard 5% chance of the mutation somewhere maybe not, learning so much. Oncologist yesterday said he would be “surprised if it isn’t a mutation” so clinging to that
1
u/ThisSelection7585 Aug 01 '25
I’m similar age, pretty healthy, non smoker but a very social drinker and it happened to me, mutation and all. No history of cancer in the family. Mine is contained to the lung. My care team did prepare me that the PET & MRI were to see if it went anywhere else. I actually just posted how I feared colorectal spread because my stupid hemorrhoid started bleeding of all times just before the PET! The card team said if it showed in the brain there’s still treatment it just changes what they’ll do/use so I share that. They did not say game over just it will change the treatment approach. No drinking since chemo started, but I have a couple standing invitations from friends for victory toasts once this is resolved. A great support system and lots of success stories really help. Truthfully, the impact of this on my teenage son was the hardest thing for me, moreso than whatever I might go through. I kept it from him til the diagnosis day when my husband had to tell him. He seems to have a healthy understanding and sees I’m mostly myself. We are a family of faith and his response upon seeing me was that I would be ok because Jesus is with me. I right away thought of Jesus calming the sea storm wind and the disciples being scared needlessly, no need to be scared when you’re with Jesus and vice versa. He commands the forces of nature he can command some nasty little cells in my lung. I understand not everyone is into faith talk so I don’t mean to sound like a sermon 🤣
2
u/Dangerous_Toe_2961 Aug 02 '25
Wow, I’m sorry and I understand. My sister and I are in our 20s and this is so hard but I can’t imagine how I would have handled it as a teenager. Hope he has some good friends to support him. I find it’s keeping my mind busy to try and get my mom healthy in prep for treatment. I wish you and your family the best of luck and will pray for you.
My mom is a woman of faith and I read her these words and she loved it so thank you for that.
12
u/Heathski Jul 30 '25
There is hope! I had lung tumors and a 5cm brain met, diagnosed with Stage IV NSCLC in Jan 2020, I have the ALK+ mutation which means after the craniotomy to remove the brain tumour the cancer has been controlled with medication.
More relatively young (I was 41) never smoker, relatively healthy women are being diagnosed with NSCLC with the mutations. Hard to say what your mom’s prognosis will be, everyone is different, but hopefully the pathology will show a mutation and treatment can be somewhat “easy”.
My life with stage 4 cancer is pretty good, I mean It’s going to kill me, but not today.