Have you ever thought that a mild cough can actually be lung cancer?
One thing we all should be aware of is that illness is unpredictable. You never know when it will strike and how bad it can be. And when we are talking about cancer, things are even more tragic.
Many families were destroyed by this deadly disease, and today we want to share with you the story of Stephanie Williams, a 40-year-old mother who was alarmed by “a persistent, mild cough.”
She lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and it all started in 2021 when her daughter, Liza, started kindergarten. When Williams was picking up her daughter, she noticed that she had started to cough. She was trying to ask Liza how her day was, and mid-sentence she had to stop talking because the cough was taking over.
She found it weird, but if she paused and took a deep breath, things were alright again. Because of this, Spehanie thought that maybe things were not that serious, but she hadn’t forgotten about it and mentioned the mild cough to her doctor during the annual physical.
The doctor told her that there could be many causes for that mild cough, and the most plausible one was seasonal allergies. Also, they considered that she could also try to take reflux medication, as this might also help.
Remember that this whole story began in 2021, so the pandemic was still there, and this made Stephanie think that maybe she had contracted COVID. After all, this was a real possibility, and one of the main symptoms of this disease was a mild cough.
Because of this, she requested a chest X-ray. Good judgment if you ask us, and she was lucky because her doctor had an X-ray machine right in the office. Williams took the X-ray, and her doctor was ready to look over it. As soon as they saw the X-ray, the only thing they were able to say was “Oh my God!”
Terrifying right? And it really was. Stephanie also saw her X-ray, and she was petrified. On the right side of her chest, over the lung, there was a huge, cloudy oval. She was thinking about what that could be, and she was sure there was no good news. Considering that she used to be a home health care nurse, she was aware that the mass that appeared in the X-ray was not something normal that the human body just has. It was something weird.
Her doctor told her that it was time for an emergency CT scan because that mass looked highly suspicious for neoplasm. She quickly understood that this was something like a code for “it’s most likely lung cancer.”
Indeed, after the CT and other tests, it turned out that it was lung cancer. What is more baffling about Willimas’ story is that she is what doctors call a “never-smoker.” This means that there were zero environmental factors that could have led to the development of lung cancer. Also, she had no lung cancer history in her family, which has made things even more eerie.
She was in shock because there were no logical explanations for this. Stephanie said that if she was working in a uranium mine, the answer would have been right there, but this was not the case. One day you have a mild cough, and the other you end up in the hospital with lung cancer. This is an event that would shake up anyone, and this was also what happened to Stephanie.
Williams began preparing for the surgery, and all she could think about was how hard it was to be a mother, especially when an unfortunate event like this takes over your life. While she was taking care of all the preparations, she recalled memories of her and her daughter Liza.
She said that Liza has this beautiful curly hair, but it always gets in her face. Because of this, she used to use hair clips to keep it out of her way, especially when the little girl was going to school.
Before the surgery, Stephanie sent a little bag that had a bunch of hair clips inside to the girl’s teacher and also included a letter that could make anyone cry. She assured the teacher that there would be caregivers taking care of Liza, but in case her hair was bothering the girl, she asked if they could put back the hair clips for her. When she remembers it, she almost cries.
The surgery took place, and the doctors removed two lobes of her right lung, and right after she also needed to start chemotherapy. They conducted some extra tests and found out that Williams was also positive for ALK+, or Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase Positive.
This is a genetic mutation of the lungs that makes the cells grow abnormally, and in the end, they will start to behave as lung cancer cells.
Surprisingly enough, the ones who are most affected and usually test positive for ALK+ are not heavy smokers. Those who suffer the most because of this mutation are young people, generally under 55, who have never smoked.
One thing that made Stephanie Williams stand out from the crowd is that she had decided to document her whole lung cancer journey, so she created a TikTok account that reached 20,000 followers in no time.
She told me that the videos that went viral are actually the most basic ones, such as “Hey, these are the main differences between stage one, two, three, and four lung cancer.” or “Hey, here are three things you should always remember if you’ve just been diagnosed with lung cancer.”
Stephanie believes that those days and weeks right after the diagnosis are so overwhelming that people want to find any useful information, and as a result, this type of information goes a long way, and this is how these videos became so popular.
Most of the time, Stephanie keeps things positive on her TikTok, but she said that she is not comfortable saying that she is cured. At this point, she is cancer-free, but she knows that the lung cancer might come back. She says that she doesn’t have a microscope to look at her body all the time, so you never know.
Most of the time, Stephanie keeps things positive on her TikTok, but she said that she is not comfortable saying that she is cured. At this point, she is cancer-free, but she knows that the lung cancer might come back. She says that she doesn’t have a microscope to look at her body all the time, so you never know.
Hopefully, she is more calm now than she used to be. As time passes, she is more and more confident that things might in fact turn out ok, and she is also more prepared in case this is not happening. After all, it is what it is.
She is no longer that scared by any pain or mild cough, but she would be lying if she would tell it’s nothing. Last time she said that turned out to be lung cancer, and she is still careful and keeps in contact with her doctors.
This is a story that teaches us about how sneaky lung cancer can be and how helpful it is if you rely on your instinct and get checked even if things don’t seem that serious.
What do you think about Stephanie Williams’s story? Tell us in the comments!
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