*February 2025* Written by Karen LeBonte
As Maggie McCloskey celebrated her 60th birthday in May, she told herself, “2021 is going to be the best year of my life!”
But between May and September of that year, a slow cascade of puzzling health events began to test her certainty.
In June, during a stressful period at work, Maggie’s vision became distorted by occasional ocular migraines. Her eye doctor told her that these could be attributed to that work stress.
In July, Maggie’s left leg seized up in a cramp that didn’t ease. She called an advice nurse who, fearing a blood clot, advised Maggie to go to the ER immediately. An ultrasound did reveal a clot, so Maggie started on a blood thinner. She followed up with a hematology oncologist, who didn’t probe further because of Maggie’s otherwise good health. Maggie described her relief leaving the office: “It was like there was a thought bubble over my head: ‘Thank God I don’t have cancer.’”
But the eye issues continued: split vision, as though one pupil were higher than the other, then eye flashes diagnosed by her optometrist as cotton wool spots, which led to a referral to an ophthalmologist and a suggestion to schedule a physical exam with her PCP.
In August, a few days before the physical, Maggie experienced about 10 seconds of pain in the left side of her chest. When she mentioned this during her physical exam, her PCP ran an EKG, which indicated a rhythm abnormality. So, Maggie was referred to cardiology. But when her PCP called a few days later to say the EKG machine had made an error, Maggie decided to keep the cardiology appointment. “I’m glad I listened to my gut and kept that appointment,” she said. It was the appointment with the cardiology PA that ultimately led to her lung cancer diagnosis.
The cardiology PA was concerned about a pulmonary embolism and ordered a CT scan. The CT scan on 8/31/21 found a mass measuring 35 x 23 x 19 mm, with possible spread in Maggie’s upper right lobe. A follow up PET scan also found a lesion in her right lung measuring 2.2 x 3.3 cm, plus several micro modules in her lower left lung.
By early September 2021, Maggie began having problems with her balance. A brain MRI in early October revealed several small mets in her right occipital lobe and cerebellum, thus explaining her summer of vision and balance problems.
September also included a tumor tissue biopsy and a Guardant 360 blood biopsy. The tissue biopsy confirmed NSCLC adenocarcinoma. The blood biopsy results showed an EGFR Exon 21 mutation.
Lung cancer survivors know well the turmoil that comes after a diagnosis. The turmoil is even more extreme when, as in Maggie’s case, there has never been any lung-related symptoms prior to a lung cancer diagnosis.
But for Maggie, the discovery of her EGFR mutation became a silver lining in the midst of chaos and distress. “An EGFR mutation meant I’d receive a targeted therapy. I could take a pill instead of chemo!” she said. She began Tagrisso in October, and by December, her PET and MRI showed she was NED. “That was amazing—it did turn out to be a good year after all!” Maggie said.
Maggie remained no evidence of disease (NED) until September of 2022, when scans showed active cancer, again at the primary tumor site. Maggie had (stereotactic body radiation therapy) SBRT. After further progression in March of 2023, a blood biopsy showed MET amplification (a resistance mechanism to Tagrisso) in addition to the EGFR mutation, so Maggie entered a clinical trial in June 2023, remaining on Tagrisso and adding Tabrecta for the MET amplification. Read more.
