*March 2025* Written by Karen LeBonte
In 2014, Theresa Flanagan was about to start working with the elderly as part of her master’s degree thesis. A TB test was a prerequisite for the job, but getting those results would have taken too long. “They said, ‘just go get an x-ray,’” Theresa said. And so, Theresa’s journey with EGFR+ lung cancer began.
Except she didn’t know it for a while. Despite results showing something on the lung, 4 bronchoscopes yielded the same diagnosis: “It’s nothing.” Luckily for Theresa, her sister is an oncology nurse. “She’s a force to be reckoned with,” Theresa laughed. “She took all my records, and said, ‘We’re going to Penn.’” There, the mass on her lung was located, removed, and sent for biomarker testing. The diagnosis was clear: Stage II, EGFR+ cancer. Theresa had a lobectomy.
Theresa did well for two years. “During that time, I was going to the gym constantly. Then my hip started hurting; I thought I was just working out too much. I never thought it could be anything else.” But an MRI revealed a tumor. “It was ginormous,” said Theresa. “The size of a grapefruit, involving my pelvic bone.” A biopsy confirmed the lung cancer had metastasized. Theresa had chemo and radiation. “After the radiation on my hip, the tumor didn’t get much smaller,” Theresa recalled.
She began taking Gilotrif (afatinib) and, despite terrible side eƯects, continued it for five years. “That’s all good for now,” she said.
In 2019, an MRI revealed brain mets, 27 of them. Theresa had her first gamma knife (radiation) treatment. Then, in 2020, her MRI checkup showed 13 more brain mets (metastases) and Tagrisso became part of her daily routine. “Side effects come and go,” she said. “I do one day at a time, sometimes an hour or a minute.”
Everything was stable until late in 2024, when another brain met appeared. Theresa underwent gamma knife again. Luckily, the MRI that guided the procedure continued to show only the single met. The procedure went smoothly, and Theresa will follow up with her care team in March. Read more.
