A Touching Tribute
- Chrishell Stause will dedicate her next performance on Dancing With The Stars to her late parents, who both passed away from stage 4 lung cancer.
- Stage 4 lung cancer is an advanced form of the disease, which means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
- Chemotherapy is a standard treatment option for lung cancer, but other treatments such as precision medicine have also shown enormous promise.
Stause, 39, revealed her next dance performance will be to “Stars” by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals a song she listened to a lot while mourning the loss of her mother who passed away in July. She was diagnosed in February, and since the disease was in an advanced stage, it had spread to other parts of her body. For treatment, she went through chemotherapy, which has long been seen as a standard treatment option for stage 4 lung cancer.
Read MoreDr. Geoffrey Oxnard breaks down treatment options for stage 4 lung cancer
Options Besides Chemotherapy
The goal of stage 4 lung cancer treatment is to eliminate any signs of cancer in the body, especially since it has spread. While chemotherapy is considered a standard option for numerous cancers, lung cancer researchers have discovered precision medicine and targeted therapies also show enormous promise.
Precision medicine refers to when doctors will choose a treatment that matches with specific biology and characteristics of your tumor. This can refer to genetic mutations your tumor may hold, such as the over-expressing epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) a protein that makes cells grow and divide. By identifying these mutations and characteristics, this makes administering drugs that can block the division of cancer cells much more helpful.
Related: New Targeted Lung Cancer Drug, Retevmo, So Effective It Gave Musician His Life Back
One of the drawbacks of chemotherapy is that due to the treatment quickly killing all fast-growing cells, it can eliminate healthy cells as well. This is where targeted therapies can be a huge help. Unlike chemotherapy, targeted therapies seek out very specific cancer cells and eliminates them while leaving the healthy cells in tact. Due to the promise in this treatment, researchers are examining whether it’s beneficial to combine precision medicine and chemotherapy during the treatment process.
“When I see patients now, the conversation is much more complex than it was a few years ago: I would be talking just about a chemotherapy regimen, how we would be administering it, and what the side effects were,” Dr. Ronald Natale, a medical oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet. “Now the conversation has become more complex. With precision medicine, we want to understand precisely what type of lung cancer this individual patient has.”
Dr. Ronald Natale explains how precision medicine shows incredible promise in lung cancer treatment
Turning Loss into Happiness
When you lose a loved one, it’s completely understandable that anger and sadness are likely the primary emotions you’ll feel. However, it’s possible to take that sadness and create something beautiful out of it. Take Camila Legaspi for example, who lost her mother to breast cancer when she was just in high school. Her mother was always a creative person, and after losing her, Camila decided to honor her mother’s memory by exploring her own creative side by writing for her college’s magazine.
"I actually took this sadness and let it motivate me," Camila tells SurvivorNet. "I learned that it's OK to be sad sometimes. It's OK to carry sadness with you … it's not always a bad thing. It makes you who you are and it gives you a story to tell and it helps you teach other people to cope with their sadness."
Related: If You Have Lungs, You Can Get Lung Cancer Survivor Donna Hunting Shares Her Story
Clearly Stause is taking her dual loss and creating something beautiful out of it through this upcoming performance. Sometimes, creative outlets can be extremely healing during difficult times. Even though this dance number will be emotional for Stause, it’s a beautiful opportunity to remember her parents.
Camila Legaspi explains how you can turn sadness into something beautiful
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