Lung Cancer Patient Stories

Steven Zatoris and his wife.

Steven Zatoris

  • Sarcoma
  • Colorectal Cancer
  • Lung Cancer
Steven Zatoris and his wife.

In 2021, I started having pain in my left leg. I visited my family doctor, and at first we thought it might be a deep vein thrombosis. When we ruled that out, I saw a vascular doctor in case it might be varicose veins. That doctor had me get an MRI, and after those results came back, I had to get a biopsy. That’s when the doctors confirmed that I had a stage IV tumor in my leg.

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Tiffany Fagnani

  • Lung Cancer

I am 40 years old and currently live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Although I work as a case manager for an insurance company now, I was previously employed as a full-time nurse. I have always been a busy person with plenty on my plate, so when I started feeling tired and losing weight, I thought it was caused by the stress of my daily routine.

It wasn’t until July 2017 that I couldn’t ignore my symptoms any longer. When I developed a migraine and felt a tremor in my arm and eye, I knew I was about to lose consciousness. I immediately called 911.

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Dan Sullivan

  • Lung Cancer

Sometimes I think that my timing was just incredible. If I had been diagnosed with cancer a few years earlier, my prognosis would have looked much different than it does today—especially if I had not gone to Fox Chase!

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Joyce Vrbicek

  • Lung Cancer

Before cancer, I was a retired Philadelphia police officer who enjoyed many wonderful adventures with my husband, Braco. We enjoyed running businesses together, traveling together, and raising our daughters together. But, when Braco was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016 at the age of 57, everything changed. And, a few years later in 2019, I was faced with my own lung cancer diagnosis.

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Susie Barton

  • Lung Cancer

I was only 40 when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. I went to my primary care doctor, who sent me for a CT scan. When he got the results, he told me to find an oncologist because it was cancer. A few years earlier I had a breast lump removed at Fox Chase, so that is where I knew I should go. 

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