It’s with nice unhappiness that we realized of Laura Greco’s passing on July 14, 2024.
Laura was a self-described fighter and lung most cancers activist, decided to tackle her illness whereas working to extend funding for lung most cancers analysis. She served as a lung most cancers analysis client reviewer on the Congressionally Directed Medical Analysis Program (CDMRP) and plenty of lung most cancers advocacy organizations in a number of capacities. Her dedication to educating elected officers, the medical group, and the group at massive was second solely to her dedication to her household.
Laura’s “Die, Most cancers, Die” marketing campaign in 2022 rallied the lung most cancers group, supporting her need to defeat the illness that had invaded her mind whereas persevering with to remind individuals that each one you want to get lung most cancers is a pair of lungs. Laura frequently instructed her story to underscore this truth and to contribute to enhancing basic consciousness of lung most cancers and the massive disparity in lung most cancers analysis funding in comparison with different, much less lethal, cancers.
LCRF was one among many beneficiaries of Laura’s power and willpower.
The lung most cancers group has misplaced a champion, and she or he can be missed by so many. We ship our condolences to her husband, her sons, and all who liked her.
October 2022
Social media declaration evokes a motion: Die, Most cancers, Die!
Laura Greco is dealing with a nemesis that has threatened her quite a few occasions. And he or she has made her beef public, emblazoning her daring intention in the direction of her enemy proper throughout her chest.
Laura has lung most cancers. On September 23, 2022, she placed on the outfit she has worn for each first day of therapy since 2018: a easy black t-shirt with the phrases, “Die, Most cancers, Die!” throughout the entrance. Then she started her third assault on a mind tumor that has refused to go away.
“It looks like the third time is the allure for me,” Laura famous. “That is my second mind radiation remedy on this tumor. And, I’ve had a mind surgical procedure to attempt to take away it. I’ve practically died twice, saved by my husband each occasions. And, I preserve preventing. I’m nonetheless right here.”
To mark that first of six rounds of radiation, she posted a photograph of herself on Twitter with the caption “Actually pumped as much as kill my most cancers in the present day. Die Most cancers, Die!” To Laura’s shock, the tweet took off – 30,000 likes, greater than 800,000 views, and shared practically 1,000 occasions inside a couple of brief days. She noticed a chance to lift consciousness that anybody with lungs can get lung most cancers, and, perhaps, elevate a couple of {dollars} for analysis within the course of.
Actually pumped as much as kill my most cancers in the present day. Die Most cancers, Die! #1 carried out, 5 extra to go. #LCSM pic.twitter.com/DzV4SyoN9R
— Laura Greco (@lgreco_ny) September 23, 2022
As a seven-year lung most cancers survivor beneath the age of fifty with no danger elements for the illness, Laura is aware of how essential it’s to unfold the phrase that anybody with lungs can get lung most cancers. The mother, spouse, and lawyer from Saratoga Springs, NY, has develop into a full-time advocate for lung most cancers consciousness and funding for analysis.
“Among the many many issues I’ve realized over the past seven years: we deserve higher, and we should always get higher – higher consideration, higher therapy, higher survival, and it’s only with extra analysis that we’ll get there. The remedy is on the market, and we simply should battle for it. It’s as much as us to advocate for ourselves, to battle for recognition in any respect ranges of presidency, all ranges of society. Folks must know that they don’t have to be ashamed of their prognosis and they matter.”
By elevating her voice and sharing her battle, she has given lung most cancers survival a nationwide platform – all whereas beneath therapy. “I wished to give attention to residing and do extra advocacy. God put me on this earth to be the beacon for different individuals with this illness and present them that we will survive it.”
Decided to return out on high
Laura is decided to defeat her tumor. She merely is not going to permit it to defeat her. “I’ve misplaced many buddies, and so they say it simply takes one tumor to kill you. I cannot permit that to occur. That is the time that I’m going to kill it earlier than it kills me.”
Her journey so far has been harrowing at greatest. The mass in her lung led to an preliminary prognosis in 2015 of Stage 3A non-small cell adenocarcinoma lung most cancers, pushed by a translocation inside the ALK gene. At the moment, the focused remedy, alectinib, was not but accredited by the FDA for first-line therapy. She was prescribed two rounds of chemo concurrent with six weeks of radiation, adopted by surgical procedure to take away the mass in her left decrease lung.
“The outcomes weren’t nice. I used to be 40 and had younger youngsters. I stored asking, what are you able to do for me. I’ve younger youngsters. I refuse to die. The reply was to do 4 extra rounds of chemo to ‘mop up’ any remaining cells. So, I did.”
Laura did 4 rounds of chemo and went again to her legislation observe. The following yr had its ups and downs. Laura started having complications, so she satisfied her basic practitioner to get her a head and neck MRI – that confirmed greater than 10 tumors in her mind. She was capable of begin on alectinib days after it acquired breakthrough designation from the FDA however finally skilled liver toxicity from the therapy. Going off it solely brought about the mind tumors to develop again and improve in quantity. She began again on alectinib and finally elevated to a 150% dosage, however one or two of the tumors continued rising.
In the summertime of 2018, Laura had her first spherical of mind radiation.
Navigating a brand new actuality
“I began to really feel worse, however I continued to stay my life. I used to be touring and becoming in mind mapping and the radiation therapy between journeys. Issues actually went sideways in 2019.”
Insufferable head ache highlighted a brand new actuality. The most cancers in Laura’s mind was inflicting swelling and edema. On the suggestion of her medical staff, she waited for the state of affairs to enhance by itself. It didn’t. In the end, Laura had an emergency mind surgical procedure in early November of 2019, which led to 2 additional surgical procedures.
Round that point, an actionable MET amplification was found in her ALK-driven lung most cancers. She was the primary to be prescribed a two-drug mixture of alectinib for ALK and capmatinib for the MET amplification.
“I remained on the two-drug combo, however within the fall of 2020, it began to point out indicators that it was now not working totally. They wished to do an ALK drug plus chemo. I refused. Chemo doesn’t do a lot for the mind and it actually reduces my high quality of life. We agreed to radiating the 4 rising tumors together with the two-drug combo. It labored for just a little over a yr.”
In early 2022, Laura was scheduled for surgical procedure as a result of the tumor on the left facet of her mind had grown. As a “Hail Mary” transfer, her alectinib dose was elevated to 150% for 10 days forward of the process. She was in pre-op when the surgeon introduced that she didn’t want surgical procedure that day; her scans confirmed important discount within the tumor that was scheduled for operation. She went house and went sledding together with her youngsters to have a good time. Sadly, she had a seizure in April, after which she was scheduled to have a few of her tumors surgically eliminated.
“It turned out that one of many tumors had the ALK mutation. That was utterly resected. The opposite had a very completely different genetic make-up. It was MET and EGFR amplified and was so intertwined with my motor perform that to take away it could trigger me to probably lose using my hand. So, they didn’t get all of it. My ALK tumor was proof against alectinib at this level, so the following drug to take must be loratinib. So, I prompt we take a look at loratinib with capmatinib.”
Laura skilled a extreme poisonous response to loratinib – she misplaced her skill to talk coherently and to learn. “It was the worst time of my life,” she mentioned. It took 15 days for the drug to clear her system. She has lingering results to today. “With a number of dose reductions and onerous work with a speech therapist, I’ve skilled important enchancment.” Laura was steady till a few month in the past, when she had one other seizure. One other scan confirmed extra edema and progress within the MET-EGFR tumor.
“Because of this I get radiation now – and that tumor has obtained to die.”
Laura is decided to beat her tumor, whereas persevering with to advocate for extra analysis funding, and residing her life.
“Most cancers is a thief, and we have to not let or not it’s. We have to grasp the enjoyment of residing and understand the way it can free us, too. By selecting to have this perspective, by figuring out that the unintended effects could be managed, I can stay with that. I’m selecting to battle, and I’ll win.”
Study extra about Laura’s #DieCancerDie marketing campaign at diecancerdie.org.