{"id":18405,"date":"2024-05-17T13:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T18:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=18405"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:38:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:38:05","slug":"how-i-knew-i-had-lung-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/how-i-knew-i-had-lung-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"How I knew I had lung cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI seemed to be healthy,\u201d said Misty Barnes. \u201cBut one person\u2019s suggestion to get a lung cancer screening changed everything. That\u2019s how I knew I had lung cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Misty was loving life as a 57-year-old wife, mother, grandmother and art teacher when her father passed away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/services\/specialties\/cancer\/conditions-treatments\/conditions\/lung\">lung cancer<\/a> in 2018. At the same time, her mother \u2013 who also died of lung cancer in 2020 \u2013 was in the midst of her own battle with the disease. That\u2019s when Misty got a piece of advice.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How I knew I had lung cancer\" aria-label=\"How I knew I had lung cancer\" src=\"https:\/\/freshpaint-video.com\/d7bef322-4e14-46ae-bccd-a1dc9ff764d7\/271d39bf-b2ac-4c54-93af-518cf12de914\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Getting screened<\/h2>\n<div class=\"alignright cta\">\n<p>Should you get a lung cancer screening?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/profilers.evaliahealth.com\/v3\/d8a02645-bd5a-45db-aecf-c39ff89cb66b\">Answer a few questions to find out<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMy sister-in-law worked for a lung doctor and said I would qualify for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/services\/specialties\/cancer\/screening\/guidelines\/lung-cancer\">cancer screening<\/a> due to my family history,\u201d Misty said. \u201cShe thought I should get the screening even though I had no symptoms and was a non-smoker. But both of my parents smoked pretty heavily in the 1960s and 70s, so I had lived with secondhand smoke. My dad was also an ironworker and was exposed to asbestos, which increased his risk level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In December 2018, Misty underwent a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/publications\/dictionaries\/cancer-terms\/def\/low-dose-ct-scan\">low-dose CT scan<\/a>, which uses a very small amount of radiation to screen a person for cancer.<\/p>\n<h2>The results<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThey found two spots on my right lung,\u201d Misty said. \u201cThe good news was they thought I would be OK, but they were going to watch it. So, I kept going back every six months for scans and was getting good reports until August 9, 2022. I\u2019ll never forget that date. That\u2019s when my doctor\u2019s office called and said they were very suspicious that I had adenocarcinoma, which was confirmed a few weeks later through a biopsy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Adenocarcinoma is cancer that starts in glandular tissues that make mucus or fluid, such as the lung, breast, prostate and colon. It&#8217;s the most common type of lung cancer and grows more slowly than other types.<\/p>\n<p>A person can have lung cancer for years before symptoms emerge. And by that time, the disease may be in its later stages and difficult to treat.<\/p>\n<h2>Undergoing surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Fortunately for Misty, the cancer was found early \u2013 in stage one. So, her surgeon at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Illinois, was able to remove all of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy surgeon was amazing,\u201d Misty said. \u201cHe took out the whole upper lobe of my right lung, and I was fortunate because he was able to remove all of the cancer. I didn\u2019t have to have chemo or radiation.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Giving credit<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18476 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_3334-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Misty Barnes posing on the beach with her loved one.\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_3334-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_3334-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_3334.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Misty credits the early detection through screening \u2013 and her parents \u2013 for saving her life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was super close to my parents and truly believe they saved my life,\u201d Misty said. \u201cI would have never gotten a screening if I hadn\u2019t been encouraged to do so because of their illnesses. There was a huge benefit to catching my cancer early before it spread. It saved me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Misty\u2019s daughter is a nurse at OSF HealthCare and often cares for patients with cancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many times when she&#8217;ll call me and say things like, \u2018Mom, you are so lucky. I\u2019m treating a person in their 40s, and they&#8217;ve got stage four lung cancer. It\u2019s past the point of being saved.\u2019 That\u2019s why I\u2019m telling my story about early screening. If this saves just a few people, it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t avoid screening<\/h2>\n<p>Misty continues to get screenings every six months to ensure the cancer has not returned. For anyone who is hesitant about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/dont-wait-to-get-screened-for-lung-cancer\/\">getting screened<\/a>, she has a simple recommendation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease, just do it. If they find cancer, then at least there\u2019s a chance that you\u2019ve caught it early. And if they find nothing, you\u2019ll have peace of mind knowing that you\u2019re in the clear.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI seemed to be healthy,\u201d said Misty Barnes. \u201cBut one person\u2019s suggestion to get a lung cancer screening changed everything. That\u2019s how I knew I had lung cancer.\u201d Misty was loving life as a 57-year-old wife, mother, grandmother and art teacher when her father passed away from lung cancer in 2018. At the same time, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":18588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,223],"tags":[805,898,1072,372],"coauthors":[1034],"class_list":["post-18405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","category-patient-story","tag-cancer-screening","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-lung-cancer","tag-osf-saint-francis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How I knew I had lung cancer | OSF HealthCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Misty Barnes had no symptoms and appeared healthy, but a family member\u2019s suggestion to get a lung cancer screening probably saved her life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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