When addressing what was considered a routine eye concern, Dave Nitsche discovered he had stage 4 lung most cancers that had unfold to his eye. As a lifelong nonsmoker and completed Ironman and ultramarathon athlete, he has since change into an advocate for screening and breaking the stigma round who can develop lung most cancers.
Regardless of ongoing remedy and uncomfortable side effects that restrict his athletic talents, Nitsche continues to remain energetic, fundraise for most cancers packages and present others {that a} lung most cancers prognosis doesn’t outline what an individual is able to.
CURE sat down with Nitsche for an interview to study extra about his story throughout Lung Most cancers Consciousness Month, noticed yearly in the course of the month of November.
CURE: How did dropping imaginative and prescient in your eye in the end result in your lung most cancers prognosis?
Nitsche: Really, I began dropping my sight on a Tuesday. I went to the optometrist, and he mentioned to get myself to the hospital as a result of he thought it was a retina or cornea difficulty. On the hospital, a number of medical doctors checked out it, and so they lastly took a pattern from the again of my eye as a result of fluid was build up. That’s the place they discovered lung most cancers; the most cancers had metastasized to my eye. That’s how they found it.
It was fairly a birthday present. The biopsy was finished on my fiftieth birthday, and I misplaced imaginative and prescient in my left eye. It wasn’t the most effective of occasions, however that’s the best way it’s.
As a nonsmoker identified with this illness, did you face any challenges in understanding the danger components related to lung most cancers?
That was very arduous. When individuals hear you might have lung most cancers, they usually ask, “How lengthy did you smoke?” I had by no means smoked. I used to be an Ironman athlete, an ultramarathon athlete. I did a number of Ironmans and 100-mile races. Individuals knew I didn’t smoke, so it was robust to clarify.
I’d even joke, “Perhaps I ought to begin now, we’ll see what occurs.” However actually, it’s positively a stigma, that lung most cancers solely occurs to people who smoke. A number of us haven’t smoked. I’m glad there’s extra analysis going into lung most cancers in nonsmokers now and that the stigma is slowly altering.
Final yr, I did a 1,000-kilometer bike experience on rail trails. I introduced my ribbon with me and folks would ask, “Who has lung most cancers?” I’d say, “Me,” and so they have been shocked I might nonetheless do issues like that. And once more, the query got here: “How lengthy did you smoke?” Properly, by no means.
Are you able to describe your remedy journey to date? Have you ever acquired any newer therapies, and the way have they impacted your high quality of life?
For positive. I began on afatinib, which was the drug of selection on the time. After three months, I had metastases to my mind, so I moved to Tagrisso, which wasn’t accessible after I was first identified; I used to be a couple of month too early.
I spent six years on Tagrisso. Two years in the past, I had one other metastasis in my mind, so I had radiation for that. Now I’m on amivantamab, a more moderen drug. The timeline for that’s about three to 6 years of survival for individuals, so I’m simply going to let science catch as much as me.
The arduous half is the uncomfortable side effects — they make it tougher to do the issues I wish to do. As an Ironman athlete and ultrarunner, it’s very arduous for me to get out and do extra. I nonetheless attempt, however I’ve needed to reduce. It turns into a thoughts recreation. My thoughts needs to maintain going, however my physique can’t at all times sustain. So it’s at all times a query of, “How far can I push myself?”
How has that formed your expertise and strategy to remedy, resilience, and your outlook all through this journey?
Nice query. Within the 12 or 13 Ironmans I’ve finished, there have been at all times occasions when one thing went unsuitable (a flat tire, an harm) and also you simply hold going. With remedy, that’s how I’ve discovered to be. If one thing goes unsuitable or I’m confronted with one thing new, just like the foot infections I’m coping with now, it’s simply one other hurdle. You do what you may and hold transferring ahead.
In most cancers, you’re at all times chasing the dragon’s tail. You suppose you might have issues found out (your medicine, your routine) after which one thing modifications. So that you modify, name your oncologist and take care of it. You at all times should be up to the mark.
What function has your id as an athlete performed in motivating you to remain energetic and engaged in your well being throughout remedy?
Final yr I did that huge bike experience and raised over $10,000 for the most cancers heart right here. I wish to hold doing issues like that. I’m going to do the Epic 1000 once more subsequent yr with buddies.
Lung most cancers isn’t a loss of life sentence. You’ll be able to nonetheless do what you may. I’ve a shirt that claims, “Begin the place you’re, do what you may.” I remind myself of that.
I learn someplace that while you wish to stop throughout train, that’s solely 40% — you continue to have 60% left. I’m very motivated to point out those that even with lung most cancers, you may stay your life. Perhaps it’s on a smaller scale, however you may nonetheless hike, stroll, spend time along with your canine. Simply hold dwelling.
What message would you share with others about early detection and advocacy as we wrap up at the moment?
Screening is so necessary. If you may get screened the place you reside, do it. I had no concept I had lung most cancers. I used to be operating 5 to 10 kilometers a day earlier than my eye difficulty. Early screening is essential.
In case you have lungs, you may get lung most cancers. And if you’re identified (stage 1, 2, 3, or 4), it’s not a loss of life sentence. I used to be identified stage 4 six years in the past and given a yr. I’m nonetheless right here. I do know people who find themselves 15 or 18 years down the highway with stage 4 lung most cancers.
You’ll be able to stay with it. Sure, there are uncomfortable side effects from remedy, however it’s manageable. You keep constructive. I’m a part of a bunch referred to as Man As much as Most cancers, and we help one another.
Transcript has been edited for readability and conciseness.
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