*July 2025*
April Fools Day! It’s Lung Cancer!
Andrew Kasten’s introduction to lung cancer started late in the afternoon on April 1, 2022. “I’m talking on the phone, and my left arm feels like it’s going numb,” said Andrew. The next day, on the way home from coaching his son’s soccer team, he began having the sensation again from his forearm through the left half of his chest. “It was an active electric sensation, a kind of pressure I’d never felt before,” he said.
His wife insisted he lie down for an hour, and that’s when things got really strange. “My left arm started gyrating, then I was pulsating from the waist up. My left pec began pulsating so hard—it was like the movie Alien, when the monster bursts out of the chest.”
At the nearest ER, an EKG and X-ray ruled out a heart attack, gunshot wound, or other obvious causes; the doctors were baffled. Andy’s brother-in-law suggested he see a neurologist. The consultation began with a routine MRI of the brain and cervical spine. Andy received the results through an online portal and passed them on to his brother-in-law to decipher. His brother-in-law called and said, “Andy, are you aware of what’s going on? Get your wife on the phone. You have brain tumors.” The follow-up neurology visit was pushed up from two weeks out to the next morning.
“The neurologist burst into the room: ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you’ve got tumors in your brain!’ Talk about bedside manner,” Andy laughed. The brain lesions lit up the screen. Andy was checked into University of Texas Southwestern Cancer Center, a sister facility of MD Anderson, where he spent several nights. Testing showed the lungs as the site and source of the tumors, which had metastasized to the brain. After biopsy, the diagnosis became official in May: EGFR adenocarcinoma, Stage IV.
Andy’s first-line treatment was Tagrisso and gamma knife radiation to the brain. “My brain’s been stable since,” Andy reported. There have been small bouts of radiation to address nodules in the vertebrae and collarbone, but “the physician assistant said, ‘Don’t worry—we call these whack-a-moles. We’ll tell you when to worry.’”
“That really helps,” said Andy. “The doctors focus on the science and maintain a neutral demeanor. But the rest of the clinical team is important too—they can sometimes interact differently, providing warm encouragement. I feel like I’m in really good hands. I dig them all.”
After two years on Tagrisso, scans revealed minimal progression. Andy began treatment line 2: amivantamab with carboplatin and pemetrexed. Toward the end, he dealt with the infamous amivantamab rash on his face and scalp but got help from an oncology dermatologist. Read more.
