When I was 16 years old, my grandfather got extremely sick. He had been a smoker since he was 8 years old. He never had a lung cancer screening CT with his primary care physician. At 59, the cancer had metastasized to his bones and he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. After 3 short months, I lost my grandpa at 59 years old.
Fast forward six years, and I had a scare myself when lung masses were found incidentally on an X-ray and confirmed with an MRI. I had a bronchoscopy to biopsy one of my 6cm tumors to rule out malignancy. For the past five years, I have developed a great relationship with my pulmonologist and thoracic surgeon who have been monitoring my rare, congenital lung cysts.
I advanced my career a year ago into medical device sales in the pulmonary space. I work for a company that I have a true passion for. I now get to have a direct impact on diagnosing early stage lung cancer and it has been so rewarding to help stage shift lung cancer the Kansas City community.
