Audrey’s Story
In August of 2024, I was diagnosed with Stage IV ALK+ lung cancer. I had no symptoms, and I’ve never smoked. I was completely blindsided. In fact, I wasn’t even feeling sick, just dealing with some hip pain that I assumed physical therapy could fix.
How could someone healthy, active, and a non-smoker be diagnosed with such a serious disease, especially at stage four, with hardly any warning? I had just celebrated my 50th birthday with a roller skating party at the local rink that spring. It made no sense. One moment I was planning a trip to Disney World, and the next I was wondering if I’d be here by Christmas.
To make it harder, I found out about my diagnosis just days before my dad passed away. For my family and me, it was incredibly difficult. We were living in a nightmare and were terrified… honestly, we still are.
It turns out my story is not unique.
Most people diagnosed with this type of lung cancer are non-smokers, often with no symptoms, and many are diagnosed at stage four. There are no early screening tests for lung cancer. But about two weeks after my diagnosis, we got some much needed good news: I tested positive for the ALK+ mutation.
At the time, I had no idea what that meant, so I googled "ALK+ cancer" and found a community and resources I didn't know existed.
“Then Dr. Lam told me about something that changed everything: A vaccine.”
What is ALK+?
It is a spontaneous mutation of the ALK gene we all have. It can happen to anyone, no matter how healthy they are. It’s completely random.
Because of this mutation, I’m able to take targeted medication called TKIs (tyrosine kinase inhibitors). I feel so much better, physically because of these miracle drugs. These pills are helping… for now. But they are not a cure, and they eventually stop working. We just don’t know when.
This disease is considered incurable.
I won’t “beat” it. But for now, the pills are holding it back. And I have hope that something new is coming.
Why I Have Hope
That hope started during a visit to Johns Hopkins Medical Center, where I met Dr. Vincent Lam, one of only about 12 ALK+ specialists in the United States. I’ve now seen two of them—Dr. Lam at Johns Hopkins, and Dr. Jessica Lin at Mass General. They’re my second and third opinion doctors. Both confirmed that I’m on the right treatment plan.
Then Dr. Lam told me about something that changed everything: A vaccine.
He explained that he has developed a vaccine for ALK+, something that could potentially keep the cancer from mutating further and allow patients like me to stay on our pills indefinitely. There’s no guarantee – this is the first ALK vaccine in the world. His approach draws on the historical success of infectious disease vaccines and recent vaccines in other cancers, and the first rounds of trials have already begun.
He asked if I’d like to be added to the list for a future clinical trial.
Yes. Of course!
It’s not a cure yet, but it’s a step. It felt like hope.
How You Can Help
How do we get this vaccine to everyone who needs it—fast?
Developing a vaccine takes time, funding, and mountains of behind-the-scenes work: research, lab testing, and multi-phase clinical trials.
The amazing part? Dr. Lam and his patients are the ones pushing this forward. It’s not just doctors or institutions—it’s the patients themselves who are actively involved. Together, after many years of fundraising, they’ve secured important grants and raised grassroots funding to launch the first trial. Patient-led foundations like SweatForBreath.org have been key to making the May 2024 trial possible.
This is happening— but needs more support.
When I left my first doctor’s appointment, I had no answers, just a terrifying diagnosis and a lot of uncertainty. I hope no one else ever has to feel that lost. It sent me searching for something more.
Since then, I’ve been slowly turning my romcom-writing world inside out—journaling, substacking, and somehow rallying my friends and family into building a nonprofit that might actually change things.
It seems true that when you believe in something —and you’re surrounded by people who refuse to let you face it alone, good things can happen.
Everyone deserves real information, real support, and a little hope. We're building something bigger that we hope could really change things.