I'm going to start this episode by telling a story about myself.

It makes me a little uncomfortable. I was trained to keep the focus on other people.

But here we go.

Three days before Christmas in 2023, I was diagnosed with early stage lung cancer.

I was 48 with a three-year-old son.

I'm not a smoker.

I had no risk factors.

And my tumor was found accidentally on an unrelated scan.

I was stunned.

Honestly, I am still wrapping my head around it, and I'm part of a growing group of people,

mostly women and non-smokers, who are being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Last January, I had a successful surgery to remove the tumor and a chunk of my left lung.

Now I am on a drug. It's called tigrissau or osamertinib, and it targets a mutation on one gene of my tumor, the EGFR gene.

In the lung cancer community, osamertinib is a game changer.

When results from one of the clinical trials were announced at a big oncology conference,

the room erupted in applause.

The room had a standing ovation afterwards.

Just showing what a transformational drug this was for

patients with EJFR positive lung cancer, you know, patients like yourself.

That's Angus Chen, who reports on cancer for stat news.

It is incredible. It is, I think it is one of these examples of progress in cancer medicine,

where you start with something that begins, you know,

...