For World Lung Cancer Day , we learn about one patient ’ s journey toward getting an accurate diagnosis - and why it ’ s crucial to always advocate for your health
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THE HEALTH | SEPTEMBER , 2023
| Wellness |
‘ No one believed me when I suspected I had lung cancer ’
For World Lung Cancer Day , we learn about one patient ’ s journey toward getting an accurate diagnosis - and why it ’ s crucial to always advocate for your health
Nichelle Stigger
BY MEGHAN RABBITT
NICHELLE STIGGER heard the doctor ’ s words - “ It ’ s no big deal ! You don ’ t have to worry !” - but couldn ’ t shake her suspicion that something was terribly wrong .
She ’ d been feeling sick for months and was finally at the emergency room ( ER ) undergoing tests to figure out what might be causing her symptoms . When one of the scans showed a pulmonary nodule on her left lung , nobody was alarmed ; these growths are common and often noncancerous . Except Stigger was concerned .
“ I immediately knew I had cancer ,” says Stigger .“ It was instinctual .”
Yet , it would take many more appointments , pleading with a pulmonologist for more scans and six
The nodule on Nichelle ’ s lung was growing .
Nichelle with her son Parker . more months until Stigger ’ s gut feeling was confirmed : She was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer .
Sadly , this experience is all too common for African Americans with lung cancer , who are less likely to receive early diagnosis or targeted treatments and have a lower overall survival rate than those of other ethnicities diagnosed with the disease .
Stories like Stigger ’ s are why Johnson & Johnson is relentlessly working to eradicate racial and social injustice as a public health threat by eliminating health inequities for people of colour . The company is also leading the way in advancing innovations to detect , treat and hopefully cure cancer one day .
Luckily , Stigger ’ s outcome was a good one . Healthy now , she ’ s on a mission to talk about her cancer journey and the lifesaving potential of being your own health advocate . For World Lung Cancer Day , she shares her story .
Nichelle : “ It was 2017 , and I was at my husband ’ s birthday dinner . I ’ d been feeling off for a few months - more tired than usual and a little weak . I knew something wasn ’ t right , but my symptoms were vague enough to keep moving with life .
My son was three years old at the time , and I was also working full-time and going to graduate school at night . It ’ s easy to push through feeling kind of sick when there ’ s so much on your plate .
Yet , in the middle of that dinner , I asked my husband to take me to the emergency room . I was dizzy and felt faint , and I had
an immense feeling of malaise . At the ER , the doctors did a battery of blood tests , all of which looked normal . Then they did a chest X-ray and found a small pulmonary nodule in my left lung . And while everyone around me told me it was no big deal , I froze .
I started crying , which confused my husband . He looked at me and said , ‘ What ’ s wrong ? The doctors just told you everything is ok .’ Many people have benign lung nodules , but I had a gut feeling that mine was cancer .
THE FIGHT FOR A DIAGNOSIS
The ER doctors suggested I follow up with a pulmonologist to assess the nodule they found . At that appointment , the doctor also didn ’ t seem concerned , telling me that because I was just 32 years old , the plan would be to take a wait-and-see approach , monitoring the nodule with scans to make sure it didn ’ t grow .
I looked that pulmonologist in the eyes and said , ‘ No . I want a PET scan .’
When the PET scan didn ’ t show signs of cancer , I made an appointment for a follow-up scan in six months , a standard procedure to check for growth .
During those six months waiting for my next scan , I was caring for my young son , finishing my master ’ s degree in education and spending late nights researching lung cancer . I still wasn ’ t feeling 100 per cent . It seemed like time was ticking , and I couldn ’ t convince anyone what I knew in my heart : I had lung cancer .
Sure enough , after my six-month follow-up scan , I got a call from the