SALISBURY — A fighter since she suffered a stroke a little over 10 years ago, Martha Rose faced another battle this year when she was diagnosed with lung cancer, but she fought once again.

Born in Vermont, Rose said she and her husband both served in the military, during which time they met and married in 1974. In time, after being on multiple bases in and out of the country, they were transferred to North Carolina and then Salisbury where he served as an Army recruiter. They have one son.

Having gotten back where she originally was from her stroke, Rose said she had no clue about the next news she would receive. It was during a visit with her doctor, Dr. David Caron of Granite Quarry, who did X-rays as part of a routine visit and found spots on her lungs.

It was in March, she said, that they noticed a change in the spots, and she was sent for a CT scan resulting in a diagnosis of cancer.

The CT scan, which helps physicians evaluate the lungs, is “the best test to find small nodules that may be potential cancers at an early stage,” Dr. Jonathan Kraut shared. 

Her response to the diagnosis was, “I want it out.” 

Rose said she thought, “I’m not going to go through chemo. I want it out, and I want it gone. And that was that.”

And things moved quickly, she noted, as the next step was sending her to Presbyterian where Dr. Alexis Smith performed a biopsy after which she saw Kraut, thoracic oncology surgeon, who performed the surgery in June removing the cancer.

Her stay in the hospital was a little longer than anticipated, but after she got out, she was fine, with no symptoms, and the news Rose received at her September visit was good.

It was Dr. Juleidy Turnipseed, surgical physician assistant that assisted Kraut with the surgery and cared for Rose throughout the inpatient post operative care, outpatient visits and surveillance, who delivered those two words to Rose — cancer free.

When she received this great news, Rose responded with a big hug for the doctor, and she received one from Turnipseed in return.

“I didn’t think she was going to let me go, but it was a great day. It was a better ride home than it was (going) there,” she shared.

Kraut shared that being able to take care of patients and have those good outcomes is “very satisfying. It’s why we do what we do. The earlier we catch cancers, the less likely they’re going to be a problem down the road for them.”

“We gave her a second chance,” Turnipseed noted.

And no follow up chemo treatments were needed, just a scan and blood work for a certain period of time.

Rose is considered to be in a surveillance period meaning visits to the doctors every four months with a CT scan for the first two years, which is then stretched out to every six months for the next three years for a total of five years of surveillance. Following the five years, patients are seen once a year, Turnipseed noted.

When asked what message she would tell this team of doctors that have helped her along the way? It was “thank you for giving my life back,” Rose said.

A smoker since she was a senior in high school in the ‘60s, Rose said her doctor begged her for years to quit to which her answer was, “OK, OK.”

She noted that she felt this was a contributing factor to her having lung cancer.

Kraut said that as far as contributing factors, smoking makes up approximately 87 percent of lung cancers with others being environmental and industrial exposure. And secondhand smoke significantly increases the risk of nonsmokers, he added.

Rose also pointed out her family history as her mom, also a smoker, passed away from lung cancer, and she has a sister who had lung cancer two years ago, which she was able to have removed.

Knowing all this and going through the cancer herself, Rose stressed the fact that if people “have cancer in the family, please have the doctor send you for more tests. Please.”

And she agreed that the tests were pretty simple, so “don’t wait,” she said.

Turnipseed mentioned that statistics that came from the American Lung Association does point out that early diagnosis does increase the survival rate.

“If you are able to be diagnosed with an early stage lung cancer, such as stage 1, your survival rate is about 61 percent.”

While November was Lung Cancer Awareness Month with the theme of “Education, Empowerment and Eradication,” anytime is a good time to be made aware of and educated on lung cancer and signs and symptoms.

Kraut shared that he thinks “the most common symptom actually is a lack of symptoms.”

It’s not until they are more advanced that symptoms begin to present themselves.

“So that’s the importance of screening,” he stressed.

But when symptoms do present themselves, they can be a dry, non-productive cough, it could be weight loss, there may even be chest wall pain or they could even cough up blood. Those are rather rare,” he said.

Most patients don’t have symptoms, and the cancer is discovered when they are at the doctor for other medical reasons or during the screening process, Kraut said. 

Both doctors stressed the importance of screening and Turnipseed said that “screening for lung cancer with a screening low dose CT scan saves lives.” 

She said that this is “the one way we’re going to achieve stage migration, meaning we’re going to start getting patients with early stages instead of late stages.”

Secondly, she mentioned how the higher risk population may qualify for a scan including being ages 50-80, having been a smoker with a 20-pack history, meaning they smoke a pack of cigarettes every day for 20 years or they smoke two packs a day for 10 years.

And, if they do not have symptoms or they quit smoking but it has been less than 16 years, should still be screened for lung cancer.

“The earlier we catch these malignancies or cancers,” Kraut said, “the easier they are to remove them and treat them and to give them a good prognosis down the road.”

Receiving encouragement from others, Rose said she would pass along encouragement to those who are going through this journey by telling them “you’ve got to fight. Don’t ever give up.”

And Rose hasn’t given up as she shared she has a job to do.

After her stroke, she decided that with all the help she received while in the hospital, her job is to make medical people laugh.

“Every doctor I’ve been to, they end up laughing over something crazy. That’s my job, and I do it well, she said.”

Novant Health shared the following information on improving lung cancer outcomes through early detection:

• Novant Health has a Thoracic Pulmonary Nodule Program, meant to catch lung cancer early to help improve outcomes. Turnipseed has a dual role in the program as the director and the thoracic oncology surgical PA. She has set up a multidisciplinary rapid lung nodule review clinic (TPN) that consists of thoracic surgery, interventional pulmonology, interventional radiology, and the nurse navigator for the comprehensive lung nodule program at the cancer institute. This clinic focuses on lung nodules that are likely malignant, and the goal is to expedite evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for our patients.​
• The screening process starts with the primary care physician identifying the patient as high risk and providing a shared decision-making process with the patient that involves a conversation about the benefits and possible interventions that can occur if there is a finding when they have a low-dose CT scan performed for lung cancer screening. The process also entails a patient being screened annually, with data showing a reduction in 20-percent mortality with consecutive scans.​
• After the patient has an LDCT and has a positive finding, such as a mass or a nodule in the lungs, they are referred to an interventional pulmonologist to discuss diagnostic workup and the process of getting a diagnosis early to decide on treatment if it is a malignancy. ​
• All patients with a positive finding with a high probability of malignancy are discussed at this multidisciplinary review clinic weekly. During this review, the team of providers discuss diagnostic workup and potential treatment plans for each team member.​
• From there, the patient is scheduled with the TPN.