Tommy Kiser knew something was wrong when the sharp pain on the left side of his back wouldn’t go away. He tried to dismiss it for a while, but when he had to leave a work assignment in Texas early to head home, he knew it was time to take action.

Doctors initially thought Kiser might have had a heart attack or gallbladder issue, but he suspected something more. As a smoker for 40-plus years who had dealt with other respiratory issues, he was concerned the pain might indicate a severe lung problem, so he insisted on a chest X-ray.

“I remember sitting in the lobby when my phone started ringing. It was my doctor on the phone,” Kiser said. “He told me, ‘Tommy, you were right. You have a major tumor under your collarbone in the upper left quadrant of your lung.’ That was where the pain kept coming from. It felt like a knife in my back all the time and it ended up being the tumor.”

Kiser was not alone in his diagnosis. Dr. Elias Moussaly, a board-certified oncology specialist at Our Lady of Lourdes JD Moncus Cancer Center, said lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American adults. In most cases, the disease occurs in older adults who have a history of smoking or even being in long-term close contact with smokers. Symptoms can include persistent coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain.

Once Kiser’s diagnosis was confirmed, he began a lengthy treatment process at Our Lady of Lourdes. He started with radiation and chemotherapy to try to reduce the size of the tumor, which had already affected the nerves in his left arm. A surgery followed, but a subsequent PET scan showed that the cancer had spread to Kiser’s lower right lung. Doctors were hesitant to have Kiser undergo additional radiation and chemotherapy because of concerns about the long-term effects.

Kiser reflected on the situation while spending time at his property in Arkansas and chose to seek opinions from other physicians. But, he ultimately felt the deepest connection to Our Lady of Lourdes in Lafayette and chose to return there for continued treatment. By then, a new immunotherapy had just received federal approval for use in lung cancer patients. Kiser was one of the first people in Lafayette to receive the treatment.

“I started the immunotherapy right away and now I’ve been free of cancer for years,” said Kiser, who was first diagnosed in 2014. “It’s been a health care whirlwind, but I can’t speak highly enough about the group of people at Lourdes. I’ve always been drawn to the Catholic-based health care organizations and this experience really showed me why. It feels like they are truly on a mission to make people’s lives better.”

Dr. Moussaly said that mission is centered on a multidisciplinary approach to cancer care. Our Lady of Lourdes has teams made up of surgeons, oncologists, radiation therapists, nurse navigators and others who evaluate each patient’s individual situation and prognosis to determine the best plan for care.

“It’s really about taking care of each patient in a specialized fashion,” he said. “If a patient is in the early stages of cancer, it may be more viable to offer surgery. If the cancer is more advanced or has metastasized, we may need to do chemotherapy and radiation first. There are also immunotherapy treatments and targeted treatments. As a team, we can evaluate all of those options and work together to see what is going to be best for this particular person.”

In Kiser’s case, his own knowledge of his body and willingness to advocate for himself played a key role in his lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Moussaly said others can take the same approach. He urged anyone with a history of smoking, particularly those between the ages of 55 and 74, to speak to their primary care provider about a lung cancer screening.

“Sometimes, people will have smoked for decades or have lung cancer and think that there’s no point in stopping,” he said. “I always tell them it’s never too late to stop smoking. Even if you’ve been diagnosed with lung cancer, not smoking will help with your treatment and getting the lungs into better shape. It can also reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and other types of cancer. It definitely helps. It’s always worth it to stop smoking.”

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in adults in the United States. More than 238,300 new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2023, mostly in people age 65 or older. However, the number of new lung cancer cases continues to decrease, partly because more people are quitting smoking or never starting. Dr. Moussaly said researchers are still working to determine whether vaping and the use of e-cigarettes lead to a higher risk of lung cancer.

A cancer diagnosis is one of the hardest pieces of news someone can hear. Cancer changes everything, and it takes everything to beat it. But you’re not alone in that fight. Our Lady of Lourdes JD Moncus Cancer Center has assembled a team of the best and brightest oncology specialists to lead the fight against cancer. Learn more.