In your early 30s, often the plans you set in motion around career, travel and marriage, come to fruition. However, as the famous line goes, even the best laid plans often go awry. Like for Harriet, originally from Lancashire in the UK, who was diagnosed with ALK+ lung cancer in May 2022, age 33. 

Harriet had been living and working in New York City for two and a half years, while maintaining a long-distance relationship with her fiancé, who was based out of Dubai. In March 2022, the complexity of travel during the COVID-19 pandemic brought a natural end to Harriet’s time in NY and she decided to relocate back to Dubai. The timing also seemed right as she and her fiancé were due to get married the next month.  

As part of Dubai’s visa requirements process, Harriet underwent a chest x-ray to rule out tuberculosis. Unusually for such a process, Harriet’s doctor invited her back in and asked if she was aware of the shadowing and tumour on her lung. 

As someone who had been always healthy, Harriet says she naively told her doctor this was likely related to the aftermath of COVID19 she experienced back in 2020. Given Harriet’s good health, her doctor agreed saying it was probably nothing to be concerned about. The doctor passed her x-ray for visa purposes as she was negative for tuberculosis and her blood tests showed no abnormalities. The doctor advised Harriet to have this checked out as soon as her health insurance was active.

The week after, Harriet flew to Czech Republic to get married. It was upon her return to Dubai that she started to feel “a little under the weather,” as she puts it. Harriet says, “I had a tight chest, migraines, hoarseness and fatigue. But I put all of that down to the stress and exhaustion of the wedding planning and celebrations. I received my health insurance and booked to see the doctor who performed a follow up x-ray and confirmed that there was a 6.5 cm tumour.” 

After this, Harriet was referred to an oncologist and also underwent a liquid biopsy - a test that enables the diagnosis or analysis of tumours using only a blood or fluid sample rather than a solid tissue biopsy. This test confirmed she had stage IV non-small cell lung cancer. An MRI soon after confirmed the lung cancer had metastasised to the brain with two visible lesions.

Harriet was then immediately referred to a radiotherapist and underwent six sessions of Cyberknife surgery, a stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) that uses high doses of radiation targeted at your exact tumour's location to kill the cancerous cells. Harriet adds, “Thankfully, I had very few side effects. Meanwhile I was patiently waiting to see the results of the liquid biopsy which had been sent to the UK for examination. These results were being shared in a staggered manner. After receiving several negative results for several gene mutations, the very last test checked for ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase) and it was a match!”

This was incredible news for Harriet and her new husband. While advanced ALK-positive lung cancer is incurable, it is treatable. ALK+ cancer responds well to a class of drugs called Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (or TKIs). These inhibit the cancer and often shrink most existing tumours and nodes. Harriet started taking a TKI called Alectinib in July 2022 and, so far, is responding well.

Celebrating the present

Harriet says, “I try not to let the cancer diagnosis rule my life. Instead, I embrace the now and live in the moment. I am taking on newly married life with my husband and planning a honeymoon, which hopefully we’ll take next year.