Jeanne’s Story: “You Will Heal. It Will Take a While.”
March 30, 2026
Jeanne A. lives in Hollister, CA where she is the proud guardian of her 7-year-old grandson, Joey, who she has been raising for the past 3 years. A lifelong adventurer who raised her children on Maui, HI where her grandmother was born, she still feels called to the islands, and Joey will make his first visit there this Easter. A retired social worker and current astrological teacher and counselor, Jeanne’s life is anything but quiet. She believes lung cancer may simply become 1 chapter in her story, and hopes that by sharing it, she can bring comfort to others.
An otherwise ordinary day
On a warm July afternoon in 2021, Jeanne was standing on a ladder in her backyard picking apricots when she coughed up blood. It startled her, and was unusual for her body, but she wondered if this was simply what she should expect at 72 years old since she otherwise felt just fine. Still, she called her closest friend, a nurse, and within an hour they were sitting together on Jeanne’s porch, talking it through.
Coughing up a blood clot, they ultimately agreed, was not something to ignore.
“You’d better get your affairs in order”
At the small local hospital, Jeanne was given a bed, a gown, and a long wait. Her bloodwork came back mostly normal, but hours later, when someone was finally available to read her CT scan, she was given much more shocking news: there was a 2.5-inch mass in the upper right lobe of her lung.
“You’d better get your affairs in order,” the doctor said.
Jeanne snapped back immediately, “my affairs are in order,” she said, but she was still stunned by the news. As she walked out of the ER with a brand-new diagnosis, she noticed the looks of pity on the staff’s faces — and felt something else take hold instead: resolve.
Finding the right team
Jeanne was referred to an oncologist in Salinas, CA, but she opted to go to Stanford instead. There, she met with Dr. Joseph Shrager, Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery, and someone she found to be calm, direct, and skilled. Early imaging suggested that the tumor might be stage 3 (III) lung cancer. Given its size, doctors worried it had already spread. There was also a small chance it could be something else entirely like Valley Fever.
The wait was agonizing, made worse by Jeanne’s history with lung cancer. Her father had died of lung cancer before his 40th birthday when she was just 5 years old. The disease had hovered in the background of her life, but now it was inside her body.
When the results came back, the answer was clear. It was not Valley Fever.
“You will Heal. It will take a while.”
Jeanne cried for a week. Then, reaching for reassurance in a place that had brought her comfort in her life, she turned to tarot cards, a practice she viewed less as prediction and more as intuition. Each time she asked what would happen, the message was the same: You will heal. It will take a while.
She didn’t fully believe it. But it helped her get through the days.
By early August, there was even more clarity as scans showed that the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes or brain. She did, however, have a massive tumor in her lungs which Jeanne had begun calling “the Death Star.” Surgery to remove the tumor and her upper right lung lobe was scheduled for September 1.
The operation lasted hours, and Jeanne woke up with an incision beneath her right breast and drain tubes emerging from her side. She spent 5 days in the hospital, watching light move across the coastal foothills through a massive window. Healing was slow, and when Jeanne finally went home, she took with her a cough that would linger for 18 more months.
A new reality: Stage 2 (II) lung cancer
Pathology confirmed a new diagnosis: stage 2 (II) non-small cell lung cancer. Jeanne started chemotherapy nearly immediately and completed 4 rounds between October 2021 and January 2022. It was brutal for her, and during that time, she was bedridden more often than not. Her weight dropped, and her hair fell out in clumps. “It kicked my ass,” she says plainly, and she remembers very little of that time now.
Her closest friend, Annie, was there through it all. Annie drove her the 90 minutes each way to Stanford, sat beside her during infusions, brushed out the tangles when Jeanne was too weak to do it herself, and bore witness to the physical and emotional toll with quiet steadiness.
All the while, the messages from her spiritual guides remained steady. You are healing.
A different kind of hope
In January 2022, Jeanne transitioned from chemotherapy to immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial led by Dr. Joel Neal. Part of what drew her to the trial was the promise of close monitoring for 5 years and follow up for the rest of her life.
Immunotherapy was easier on her body than chemotherapy, though not without its own challenges, including unrelenting fatigue. It was worth it, though. By March 2022, there was no detectable cancer DNA in her bloodstream. Clinically, Jeanne was cancer-free, even though she wasn’t yet ready to believe it herself.
Her final immunotherapy infusion took place in February 2023. By that spring, the fog began to lift. By summer, her hair and weight had returned. And slowly, finally, Jeanne began to come back to herself.
Learning to believe it
For a long time, Jeanne practiced saying the words before she ever fully believed them. “I survived lung cancer.”
Some people say survivorship begins the moment you’re diagnosed. Jeanne understands the sentiment, but for her, accepting it took time. “Just like healing, embracing this took a while,” she says.
Then, 1 day, she looked in the mirror and finally believed it. By June, she had started telling friends, strangers, and especially the staff at Stanford Oncology, “I survived lung cancer.”
“Saying this gives real joy to people working in the field,” she noticed.
Now, Jeanne describes herself as having been “washed ashore from a wave I did not see coming and never imagined I would survive.” Her scans continue to look good. Her strength is still building. Her guides remain close. You will heal. It will take a while.
She knows now that they were right.
A lung cancer diagnosis can bring a lot of questions, emotions, and uncertainty. GO2 for Lung Cancer’s free HelpLine connects you with trained specialists who can provide support, answer questions, and help you find resources along the way. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, in treatment, or navigating survivorship, you don’t have to face it alone.
Call us at 1-800-298-2436 or email support@go2.org to learn more.
Lung cancer questions? Contact our free HelpLine at support@go2.org or 1-800-298-2436.