LCFA mourns the loss of Voices of Hope Speakers Bureau member Sherri Eccleston, who passed away peacefully on November 2, 2024. A true titan in the lung cancer community, Sherri was known for her unwavering spirit and dedication to advocacy, particularly for those with KRAS mutations.
Even while facing her own battle with lung cancer, Sherri remained focused on inspiring others and spreading hope. She exemplified resilience, never complaining about her illness but instead channeling her energy into showing others that “giving up was just not an option.”
Her advocacy legacy lives on – we are grateful she shared her story with us.
This is a story of how a concert and a dog saved Sherri Eccleston’s life. It was August 2021 and the world was just starting to resume a semblance of normalcy following the ravages of Covid. Things were slowly opening up and Sherri was over the moon to have tickets to see Dead and Company live in concert. It was the first show of any form of the Grateful Dead played at the historic site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. The concert venue is now known as Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Nothing would keep Sherri from attending.
But First, Take the Dog For a Walk!
Before heading out for the show, Sherri leashed up Hudson, her beloved Bernadoodle, to head out for a walk. Hudson was a love of a dog. He regularly put his front paws on Sherri’s shoulder in an embrace and tended to rest his head on the left side of her chest. He was also highly energetic and excitable. That day, in his excitement, he bound out the front door so quickly that he wound up violently dragging Sherri behind him. She recalls her body hitting the handrails and every edge, corner, and hard surface of the nine steps leading to the pavement. She was pretty banged up, but nothing would keep her from attending the concert. While there, she noticed the bruises starting to show up but enjoyed the evening nonetheless.
The Spot from 3 Years Ago?
They always say the second day is the worst. And, in Sherri’s case, it certainly was. She was bruised and achy, but, perhaps most concerning was the pain from an intense headache. As the day wore on, she grew more concerned and took herself to the emergency department to be evaluated by a physician..
“I told them about my fall the previous day and they did a CT scan to ensure I hadn’t broken anything or had any internal issues. While waiting for the doctor to return, I checked my health portal on my phone. It said, “The spot on the lung from three years ago has grown”. I had no idea there was a spot three years ago! What was happening? I had a history of thyroid cancer when I was in my 30s, so for better or worse, I had a relationship with a radiation oncologist. I texted him about this note, and he looked at the scans and told me to expect a call from a thoracic surgeon right away. I got that call and, within days, was seen,”
Lung Cancer Diagnosis After Concert Fall
It was now early September and the results of a PET scan confirmed that there was indeed a spot on Sherri’s left lung which needed to be biopsied. Unfortunately, it was located in a surgically unreachable area, so the only option was a lobectomy of the upper left quadrant. Once tested it came back malignant but, to Sherri’s good fortune, was self-contained and had not spread to her lymph nodes. Her diagnosis: non small cell lung cancer, Stage 1. No further medical intervention was necessary and she was pronounced NED (no evidence of disease). The follow-up protocol was set up: scans every three months.
A Survivor’s Journey in Stages
It was just shy of a year later, just days before her scheduled scans, that Sherri developed an excruciating pain in her shoulder. Nothing would touch the pain. She was in agony. Once she had the scans, she learned the explanation for her pain: her cancer had returned in multiple locations, including a soft tissue growth in her back at L12 near her lungs. Sherri was now Stage 4. As you can well imagine, this was shocking and devastating news.
Sherri’s oncologist used the opportunity of this discovery to send the original tumor in for tumor sequencing. She recalls getting a call at 9 pm on a Saturday in October:
“Your tumor came back with the KRAS mutation. This is good news! I know a doctor in the city doing a ton of research including several clinical trials focused on this mutation. We will get you in with him as soon as possible.”
By this point, Sherri was in really rough shape. She suffered a pleural effusion which is a build-up of fluid in the space between the lungs and the heart, a direct result of her lung cancer. She ultimately had two liters of fluid removed. Sherri was growing sicker by the day, and, as such, had grown ineligible for any clinical trials.
The Storm Before the Calm
The following three months included chemotherapy and several long hospital stays. Sherri describes her situation as “worse than miserable”. She was unable to care for herself in any meaningful way. Her daughter and neighbors were on a rotating schedule to ensure that she was fed, hydrated, and “okay”. Sherri was just barely able to manage the 10-foot walk from her bed to the bathroom. She was subsisting on painkillers which, she notes, did not erase her pain. The situation was dire.
“I was so sick. My best friend came to visit from Texas and saw that I was a shell of myself. Months later he told me that he had gone home and told his wife that he was certain that was the last time he would ever see me alive.”
Lung Cancer Diagnosis After Concert Fall: Effective Treatment Strategy
In March, Sherri and her medical team filed an appeal with her insurance company to cover a targeted oral therapy that had shown positive improvements in lung cancer patients with the KRAS mutation. The request was approved. Sherri took her first pill on a Saturday.
Three weeks later, her mobility had improved remarkably. This was a huge milestone as she had spent the previous several months unable to leave the house – except for medical appointments – and even then, it was a torturous endeavor that required her to crawl out of the house into the car and then crawl into a wheelchair. And now, just weeks after beginning targeted therapy, and for the first time since September, Sherri walked to the car, then into the doctor’s office, and perhaps most triumphantly out for soup at a local diner! It was the first time in seven months that she went somewhere other than home or a medical facility …and it was amazing.
A Survivor’s Journey: Scanxiety and Stability
Anyone who has ever had cancer knows all too well about scanxiety – the stress, fear, and anxiety that surround imaging studies. Although Sherri was feeling markedly better, she was, of course, feeling all of it. Thankfully, the results of those scans were fantastic: all tumors had shrunk. There was a “near complete resolution” of the disease.
Sherri continues to have scans every three months and remains stable. Despite feeling tired and having some breathing issues – both of which she attributes to a bout with Covid in January – Sherri feels good and is out there living life to its fullest.
So, how did a dog and a concert save Sherri’s life?
“Hudson knew. He used to lean his head on the left side of my chest…all the time. He pulled me out that door to go to the concert to get me to listen to my body and force me to be seen. Things are meant to be. When I was so desperately sick I had no choice but to re-home Hudson. A friend was helping me and communication got a little mixed up, but this wonderful family who just happened to be passing through my area took him home and, truly, they were meant to have him. And in this amazing circle of life, my late brother’s son recently became a dad…and named him Hudson.”
