Mollie Fennell Hillyer
October 11th, 2007
Mine is a story of second chances. In 2002, after a divorce, I moved back to New Orleans. I was lucky enough to start seeing a man whom I had dated back in 1985. On June 11, 2005, I married this wonderful man. We started our married life in Pass Christian, MS. Two months later Katrina came rushing towards us and we evacuated to Mobile, AL, where my husband’s son lived. We lost everything. We were blessed that we did not lose any friends or family.
We spent months going back and forth to Pass Christian trying to salvage things. I had not been feeling well for awhile. Our first year anniversary was on June 11, 2006, but I was too ill to celebrate. A few days later I was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. It was then when I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer. The tumors were in both lungs. One was the size of an orange. I had 12 tumors throughout my liver. I had only a few months to live.
Providence Hospital in Mobile had a partnership with MD Anderson in Houston. I was told they could send me there but there was no guarantee that MD Anderson had a study I would qualify for. At that time, I felt too weak to travel. My doctor told me of a study that had just opened and Providence was doing it. The drug Nexavar (generic name Sorafenib) had been approved by the FDA for kidney cancer. He told me that the lung tumors in kidney patients were the first to go away and saw no reason why it would not work on me. The problem was it was a double-blind study and they would not be told if I was getting the real drug. I figured that since it was brand new and I was the first to go on it, I would have the real drug. It turned out that my gamble was correct as I had many of the side effects of the drug.
The drug is given along with a four month regimen of chemo. One day, after being on Sorafenib and chemo, I was talking to my trial nurse and all of a sudden she looked at me and said “I have a good feeling about you.” Two weeks later, I had my first scan and it showed the lung tumors had reduced by 60% and the liver ones by 50 %. My nurse told me that my doctor was shocked. Each month they reduced even more.
My chemo treatments continued until the middle of November. The December PET scan showed no active cancer. None. At that time, we decided to move to Texas to be near my daughter, son, and grandchildren. I was assigned to a Texas doctor who is involved with the study. It has been sixteen months since I started the program. I take four pills a day and have to see my doctor every three weeks. I still have side effects that are not pleasant, but I AM alive and with those that love me.
I do want to mention that prayer and faith play a big part in helping with illness. I was blessed by a multitude of prayers. My husband never believed that I was going to die. Without him, my family, and friends, it would have been so much harder.
My dear mother died in August of 2004 with non-small-cell lung cancer. My aunt died of the same cancer one month after I was diagnosed. The Nexavar/Sorafenib trial came along too late for them. I often wonder why I was spared. Maybe it is just to be able to give hope to others.
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