No Symptoms, No Smoking History: Susan’s Lung Cancer Story
Susan Radlinski, 69, was healthy, active, and enjoying retirement in Crozet, Virginia.
“I’ve been a runner since I was in my 20s,” Susan shares. “I’ve run a couple half marathons. My husband, Jim, and I are scuba divers. I’d had no health issues except for pneumonia when I was a kid.”
That changed one night when, after seeing a World War I exhibit, Susan had a nightmare.
“Someone was throwing a bomb at me,” she explains. “The dream was so vivid, I jumped off the bed, hit the floor, and broke my rib.”
In addition to the broken rib, an X-ray showed a spot on Susan’s lung. More scans and tests led to news she never saw coming: she had lung cancer.
In this video, Susan shares her story of learning she had lung cancer, getting through treatment, and returning to the life she loves.
From a Broken Rib to Lung Cancer Treatment
Susan shares how she got through treatment and back to her normal life.
Susan Radlinski:
I had a nightmare and it was after seeing a World War I exhibit. I had this dream that someone was throwing a bomb at me. It was so vivid that I actually jumped off the bed in the middle of the night, hit the floor, and broke my rib. The X-ray showed that I had the broken rib, but it also showed a spot on my lung. This is still sort of shocking when you have absolutely no symptoms and then to find out that I had cancer was kind of a shock.
Ryan Gentzler, MD:
So Susan was diagnosed with a type of non-small cell lung cancer, something that we call adenocarcinoma. This is the most common type of lung cancer in recent years. There's more and more data that shows that giving treatment upfront in terms of chemotherapy and immune therapy combinations has given us better results and long-term outcomes.
Linda Martin, MD:
Susan's one of the most healthy and robust 69-year-olds I've come across in a while. That certainly makes our jobs a little bit easier because we know that she's gonna handle any bumpy roads that may be encountered during her treatment journey. We're really lucky to have a fantastic tumor board team, which consists of experts that all touch lung cancer in some way in their practice. We meet every week and that gives us an opportunity to check in on patient progress on a regular basis at every step of their cancer journey.
Ryan Gentzler, MD:
Her tumor was shrinking on the CT scans prior to surgery. We had an indication that we had good treatment effect.
Susan Radlinski:
My tumor had shrunk to less than 10% cause it was fairly big when we started. And so that was really encouraging.
Linda Martin, MD:
And then we were able to take out one lobe of her lung with a small section of a neighboring lobe, a whole bunch of lymph nodes, and get her through that within a couple of days in the hospital.
Susan Radlinski, MD:
The surgery itself went really well. I really was not in a lot of pain. I felt comfortable because they're so intelligent and very, very capable doctors, but they're also very kind too and really made me feel like I was in really good hands and not to worry as much as I think I would've. The other thing about UVA is that they gave us a notebook and had all the details of what was gonna happen, how to prepare, what was gonna happen during the surgery and afterwards. And that was so, so helpful to me.
We were asked to be on the field to be introduced during one of the breaks in a football game at UVA and we were on with all of our physicians and it was just an incredible experience.
Now that we're retired, we had really planned on doing a lot of travel, and last year was really tough. So now I'm finally starting to feel like, okay, we can make some plans again.
I am so lucky we live where we do and we have UVA Cancer Center near us. They got me through this.
A Broken Rib Leads to an Unexpected Finding
Susan already knew about the spot on her lung. Doctors had found it 20 years earlier and diagnosed it as scar tissue from pneumonia.
When it showed up again on an X-ray after her broken rib, she wasn’t worried. But her primary care doctor, Maria Badaracco, MD, encouraged her to get it checked.
For a while, follow-up scans looked okay. Then, about two years after the broken rib, something changed. The spot looked more suspicious. A biopsy showed it was cancer. She had adenosarcoma, the most common type of non-small cell lung cancer.
“It’s shocking when you have absolutely no symptoms and you feel fine,” says Susan. “I was running every day, bicycling, no breathing issues whatsoever.”
She had also never smoked and had no known risk factors for lung cancer.
A Treatment Plan & Support Come Quickly
After the diagnosis, Susan got in quickly to see Ryan Gentzler, MD, a thoracic medical oncologist, and Linda Martin, MD, a thoracic surgeon, at UVA Cancer Center.
“They saw me right away and already had a plan in the works, which was really comforting” Susan recalls. “It was fast, so it didn't give me a lot of time to worry. They were right on top of it.”
Susan’s treatment plan included chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery.
She worried about chemotherapy but felt at ease when Gentzler walked her through what to expect. Martin also helped Susan feel ready for surgery.
Susan says both doctors helped her feel informed, prepared, and cared for.
“They’re very capable doctors,” Susan says. “But they’re also very kind, too.”
Jim felt that support as well. He remembers the doctors and staff taking time to answer questions and explain what Susan would face.
“They prepared us well,” he says. “From that, I knew what I had to do to support her through this whole process.”
Chemo, Surgery, & the Road to Recovery
Susan had four rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
The hardest part was fatigue. Each round became a little harder, but Susan focused on the end point.
“I knew that this was the right thing to do,” she says. “I just had to get through these four rounds.”
Testing showed that her tumor had shrunk. Then Martin performed surgery, removing one lobe of Susan’s lung and a small section of a nearby lobe.
Susan shares she received a notebook that explained what to expect before, during, and after surgery — and that made all the difference.
“That was so, so helpful to me,” she says. “I read that cover to cover many times, and I felt very prepared going in.”
The surgery went well. Susan says she wasn’t in much pain. She went home within a few days and started recovering, little by little.
Back to Life, One Step at a Time
At first, Susan remembers feeling excited just to walk out into her driveway.
Then she walked a little farther. Then around the block. Eventually, she started running again.
She and Jim are also making travel plans.
They had planned to visit Normandy, where Jim’s father landed at Omaha Beach during World War II. They had to cancel the trip during Susan’s treatment. Now, they’ve rebooked it.
“I feel so lucky that we live where we do and have UVA Cancer Center near us,” Susan shares. “They got me through this. They really go out of their way to make sure we feel comfortable and I get the care I need.”
Now, Susan hopes her story can offer others hope.
“It is possible to get back to your life at the end of this,” she says. “You can make it through, and you can get back to yourself.”
Article Topics
