How many people have gone thru lung cancer and chemo,,and survive?.?

Hello,

Lung cancer is a dangerous disease and is responsible for more cancer deaths in North America than any other cancer. Despite this the short answer is lots of people survive lung cancer! What your exact chances are for a long-term survival depend very much on the "Stage" of your lung cancer (depends upon things like the size and location of the tumour as well as whether or not there was spread to the lymph nodes), as well as your age and your overall health aside from the lung cancer. Survival is best for people like yourself who are able to have surgery (those not eligible for surgery do much worse) and post-operative chemotherapy has been shown to improve outcomes in most stages of lung cancer.

In oncology we talk about "long-term" survival as being "5-year survival," and for lung cancer this is probably a reasonable estimate, as the same cancer is unlikely to come back after that time. Without giving knowing your exact stage, I can give you some idea what the chances of 5-year/long-term survival are based upon the status of your lymph nodes: For those with no involved lymph nodes at surgery roughly 60% will live 5-years (actually quite good). For those with involved lymph nodes around the lung and bronchus ("N1 nodes"), survival is approximately 50%, and for those patients whose disease has spread to the mediastinal lymph nodes (central lymph nodes, around trachea, heart) long term survival is seen in 30-40%.

It is important to note that these are only average numbers of large groups of people, and within these groups are people who live only weeks as well as people who live for decades. The numbers mentioned of people who did pass away, include people who were a)very sick or b)died of something other than lung cancer, so if these don’t apply to you, your personal estimates look even better. A better estimate for you could be given by your oncologist based upon the exact details of the pathology.

So what can you do? If you are a smoker (and 85% of lung cancer patients are), I would try my hardest to quit. It is the single-most important choice that any individual (with or without cancer) can make to improve their life expectancy. This will decrease the chances of either a recurrence or new cancer, and also be beneficial for your heart, and overall health. Finally take care of your heart and follow your physicians’ advice about cholesterol and blood pressure.

You have clearly been through a LOT this past year. After this, I would try to take some time and NOT think about it. (easier said than done.) One thing that many cancer patients come to learn that other people do not, is to enjoy the moment. Either of us may be still answering questions on line in 20 years, but then again either of us could get hit by a bus tomorrow….

I hope this helps.

I have battled leukemia twice, still here.
I have several relatives who have battled breast cancer that are still here.

Unfortunatly, lung cancer is one of the ones that doesnt have a high remission rate and even lower long term survival rate. But, you should keep hope up. People beat cancer everyday. You might just be the next person.