A light symptom was bothering a younger dad. He had Stage IV lung most cancers.

Endurance athlete Kevin Humphrey was used to discomfort. He commonly participated in ultramarathons and different intense occasions. Swimming, biking and working dozens of miles at a time was customary for him. His two younger sons additionally saved him energetic even when he wasn’t coaching. However in January 2024, a persistent again ache saved bothering him. 

The ache “simply wouldn’t go away,” Humphrey mentioned. He could not sleep on his again. On the identical time, he began coughing. He was identified with pneumonia, however his signs lingered even after therapy. A chest CT scan discovered “one thing happening” in his left lung. A biopsy of the organ got here again inconclusive, Humphrey mentioned, however he saved pushing for solutions. 

“I knew one thing was off. It simply did not really feel proper,” Humphrey mentioned. 

Humphrey traveled from Michigan to Chicago to hunt a second opinion at Northwestern Drugs in Might 2024. A bronchoscopy discovered surprising outcomes: There was a tumor in his lung that was crushing the left facet of his windpipe, inflicting the coughing and ache. 

“I used to be actually in disbelief,” mentioned Humphrey, who had by no means smoked and had no household historical past of lung most cancers. “It wasn’t even on my radar as a risk. It wasn’t even an choice in my thoughts.”  

“A really regarding and dire scenario” 

Humphrey was identified with Stage IV non-small cell adenocarcinoma, becoming a member of the rising variety of younger, non-smoking sufferers identified with lung most cancers. The rise could also be pushed by environmental or life-style elements, Dr. Jonathan Villena-Vargas, a thoracic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Drugs, beforehand informed CBS Information. Villena-Vargas, who didn’t deal with Humphrey, mentioned there isn’t a definitive purpose for the rise. 

Additional assessments discovered that the most cancers had unfold past Humphrey’s lung and had doubtless been rising for at the very least a yr, Humphrey mentioned. The illness usually has a 37% 5-year survival fee at that time, in line with the Cleveland Clinic. 

Humphrey’s tumor was “fairly superior” and too massive for surgical procedure at first, mentioned Dr. Daniel Dammrich, the Northwestern Drugs oncologist who handled him. However medical doctors had been in a position to determine a “driver mutation” that was encouraging the most cancers’s progress. These mutations are extra widespread in younger, non-smoking sufferers, Villena-Vargas mentioned. 

Figuring out the mutation “actually opened the door for a few of our extra nuanced, focused therapies,” Dammrich mentioned, and “turned a really regarding and dire scenario into a way more optimistic one.”  

Dammrich and Humphrey agreed on an aggressive plan that will mix focused immunotherapy with chemotherapy, within the hopes that the medicines would shrink the tumor sufficient for surgical procedure. Humphrey started immunotherapy instantly, then had chemotherapy in summer season 2024. By August, the most cancers was operable.   

“The most important query mark”   

Eradicating the most cancers meant taking out about half of Humphrey’s left lung. The athlete wasn’t certain what that will imply for his ardour. 

“You simply had no concept. Are you able to run once more, are you able to bike, are you able to do all these endurance sports activities that I’ve beloved doing?” Humphrey mentioned. “That was the most important query mark going into surgical procedure.” 

Regardless of the unknowns, he centered on the longer term. Michigan’s Ironman 70.3 race — which included a 1-mile swim, 56.1-mile bike trip and a 13.2 mile run — was scheduled to happen a yr and a day after his surgical procedure. Humphrey determined to enroll, regardless of his fears. 

Humphrey had surgical procedure in mid-September. The operation eliminated a lot of the most cancers, Dammrich mentioned. Restoration was its personal battle. Damaged ribs and a “fairly large” incision made it tough for Humphrey to do easy duties like get off the bed or stroll quite a lot of steps. Working was out of the query for months. However he saved placing one foot in entrance of the opposite till his power and endurance started to slowly return. Even on the toughest days, the upcoming race saved him motivated. 

“It was an ideal psychological factor to placed on the calendar and practice for,” Humphrey mentioned.

“Throughout the end line” 

On Sept. 14, Humphrey was considered one of over 1,600 athletes who took half within the Ironman. He completed in slightly below 5 and a half hours, coming in 411th place. The race was exhausting and emotional, Humphrey mentioned. 

“You are replaying the whole lot that is occurred over the previous yr and the whirlwind it has been,” Humphrey mentioned. “For me, once I acquired to the purpose of figuring out ‘I will end this race’ and interested by my younger boys, my spouse, the household and the group and assist system we have had all through the entire yr, and the way grateful I’m to not solely be right here however to proceed to do a majority of these races and occasions. I actually didn’t suppose that was going to be the case once I acquired the analysis in Might of ’24.” 

Humphrey’s medical scenario can also be constructive. He had a whole response to the therapy, and there’s at the moment no proof of illness in his physique, Dammrich mentioned. Common CT scans and blood assessments look ahead to any new tumor progress. Humphrey stays on immunotherapy with few unintended effects. 

On Oct. 12, lower than a month after the Ironman, Humphrey ran the Chicago marathon for the sixth time. Over 53,000 runners participated within the race. Humphrey positioned 25,395th, ending in about 4 hours and ten minutes. It was “40 or 45 minutes slower” than when he ran the identical race in 2023, Humphrey mentioned, however he was proud to have completed. 

“My objective was simply to get throughout the end line, and that is what we did,” Humphrey mentioned. “I used to be simply grateful for the power to be on the market and to run and be doing the issues that I’ve beloved doing for such a very long time.”