Metastatic Lung Cancer Survivor Says 'Never Give Up'
Nelson Turner doesn’t believe in giving up. It’s a philosophy that’s got him through a lot in life. And it’s what got him through the worst health scare imaginable.
In 2018, Turner saw his doctor about what he thought was a cyst on his arm. The growth – about the size of a billiard ball – was a cause for concern, but the 66-year-old never expected that it would be cancer.
“I came back to the car and I lost it,” he said. “When you talk about cancer, you talk about death. And I wasn’t ready to go yet.”
His mother lost her life to cancer, so Turner was conditioned to expect the worst. Turner’s brother, was also fighting a cancer battle of his own that would ultimately take his life. But before that could happen, he told Turner in no uncertain terms: don’t give up.
“That kept me going,” Turner said. “That kept me focused on being alive. You’ve got to have some purpose to want to be here, and that was my purpose. My brother told me to not give up, so I didn’t.”
Turner’s doctor sent him to the UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center, where he was under the care of oncologist Anne Traynor, MD. The official diagnosis seemed grim: metastatic lung cancer that had spread to the brain, lymph nodes, his left arm and an adrenal gland.
Treating a patient with such a significant tumor burden – let alone curing them – is no easy task. But thanks to advances in immunotherapy, plus a little bit of genetic luck, Dr. Traynor developed a plan that she thought could work. It wouldn’t be easy, but Turner was willing to put his trust in the oncologist he had only recently met.
Dr. Traynor started him on a course of two different chemotherapies and immunotherapy to stimulate the immune system. Over time, the chemotherapy was scaled back, but the immunotherapy treatments kept coming.
“He received a ridiculous number of immunotherapy treatments alone,” Dr. Traynor said. “Over the course of three years, he had more than 40 of these treatments.”
But throughout the whole time, Turner hung in there. He experienced the expected side effects and was treated for both kidney irritation and a pulmonary embolism. But he persevered – and it paid off.
More than three years after his first visit to the clinic – and about a month before his 70th birthday – Dr. Traynor was able to give Turner the news that he was officially cancer-free.
“Don’t give up, just because it’s cancer,” Turner said. “It’s not the end, just because you have cancer. You can make it, I’m making it. I’m enjoying life right now, I’m happy and I’m truly blessed.”
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