To help detect and prevent cancer, screenings are recommended for patients. People that are at a higher risk for lung cancer can do a low-dose CT scan to find disease early. For one Avera patient, after getting his own screening done and detecting cancer, he’s encouraging others who are eligible to do the same.
Earlier this year Steve Epping found out he had lung cancer.
“I never thought in my life that I would have cancer, and then one day, boom, and now I’m on the healing side of it,” said Epping.
Luckily, his cancer was caught early thanks to a lung screening test.
“This would be my second one, once a year they do a lung screening. I went the first year and nothing - everything was fine. March 25th I went in for this year and went in, took about 10 minutes, that’s all it took,” said Epping. “Then I found out that they found a spot on that.”
“Steve was found to have a stage 1a lung cancer in the right lower portion of his lung,” said Avera oncologist and hematologist, Mark Huber, MD. “The lung cancer screening CT really made all the difference, the tumor was very small, in a location where he had no symptoms; it probably would have been a couple of years before he had symptoms. So this allowed it to get caught way earlier than it otherwise would have.”
What is a lung cancer screening?
“It consists of having yearly low-dose CT scan of the chest,” said Avera pulmonologist, Fady Jamous, MD. “Lung nodules are what we look for. Lung cancer starts as a small lung nodule, and lung nodules are spots on the CT scan that the radiologist would identify, and they tend to be pretty small.”
Since Steve’s cancer was caught early, surgery was recommended for his treatment.
Successful Treatment
“I got a call that they got everything, there was no sign of any cancer left in that lung, so that was a happy day,” said Epping.
“We are always happy to catch it as early as possible. We know it will be much more likely to be cured if it is caught early,” said Huber.
Now Steve can focus on what matters most, spending time with his grandkids and family. All thanks to a simple screening.
“I’m glad I did it and I would recommend to anybody if you have a chance to do it, do it,” said Epping.
Learn more about lung cancer and screenings at Avera.
