God works in the most curious ways. At least that seems to be the case with Khris Anderson, an Elkmont woman whose unusually inflamed tick bite led to a Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis.

Anderson grew up in the country, so she was no stranger to the blood sucking arachnids or the welts they left on the skin. This time, however, the bite developed into a nasty rash, which troubled Anderson enough to go to the doctor. After completing a two-week course of antibiotics, she developed a worrisome cough.

She was convinced she had Lyme disease. Concerned by her worsening cough, Anderson’s doctor eventually ordered a bronchoscopy to rule out a more serious condition. She awoke from the procedure to the worst-possible news. At 46 years old, the physically fit mom of two was told she had Stage 3 lung cancer.

“I had just received what I truly believed was a terminal diagnosis,” Anderson said. “My husband works in hospice. I was under no false illusions of what I had been diagnosed with. Even though the doctors wouldn’t say, I understood my prognosis and my life expectancy wasn’t great,” she said. “In that moment, I felt this sadness because I thought I would never see my grandchildren or who my children would marry.”

Despite the bleak diagnosis, Anderson said her strong faith taught her “nothing happens that God is not in control of.”

Searching for the right words to describe the months that followed that dark day in October 2015, Anderson said, “I wish I had the vocabulary to express all the lessons I learned about how precious life is. Every one of us on this planet has the same amount of time, and that is right now, this minute. I was determined to make the most of the time I had left.”

One day, as she drove along Interstate 565 to a local hospital where she was being treated, Anderson noticed wildflowers growing along the roadside and creeks dipping in and out of sight.

“Having cancer gave me a great ability to enjoy the present,” she said.

Downhill

Time passed and the news worsened. Subsequent scans revealed the cancer was actually Stage 4 and had spread to her lymph nodes and adrenal glands. The disease had progressed so quickly, radiation was no longer an option. Instead, her oncologist prescribed four, six-week rounds of chemotherapy. After the first round, she started “shedding like a dog” and becoming chronically nauseated. After the second round, she started bleeding in the lining of her lungs.

“By this time, it was really affecting my quality of life,” she said. “I was coughing up unbelievable amounts of blood, my bones hurt and I was exhausted. When the doctor told me I had failed chemo, I was truly relieved because I had no idea how I would get through another two rounds.”

Anderson continued to go downhill, yet she rarely missed a day of work.

Last vacation?

Convinced she didn’t have much time left, Anderson planned what she thought would be her last family vacation. Ever since the Anderson children were small, the family would pile into the car and drive 18 hours to the Florida Keys, where they would kayak, hike, fish and shop.

“We are that crazy family that always took vacations together,” she said. “I wanted to go back to the Keys for one last time because I have so many wonderful memories of the times we spent there.”

Anderson’s husband drove while she slept in the back seat. She was so weak when they arrived, she had to rent a wheelchair. At one point, while Anderson was shopping for purses with her daughter, the handles fell off the wheelchair. Bystanders stepped in to her catch her as she rolled away. Strangely, the fiasco gave her a renewed sense of determination.

“At that moment, I realized if I am going to die, it is going to be from cancer, not a complication of the cancer,” Anderson said.

Rethinking treatment

She retuned to her hotel room and logged onto the internet, determined to find somebody who could help her. In her search, Anderson came across a compelling commercial for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.

“It spoke to every single thing I needed and wanted that I didn’t feel like I was getting,” she said.

Cautiously hopeful, Anderson made an appointment to see Dr. Patricia Rich, an oncologist at the Atlanta branch of CTCA.

Unlike traditional cancer treatment centers, CTCA uses a team of doctors, nurse practitioners, nutritionists and counselors who collaborate under one roof to provide an integrative treatment plan tailored to the patient.

After performing an additional bronchoscopy, Rich found that although the tumor in Anderson’s lung was dead, the chemotherapy had caused so much damage in the lower right lobe of the lung, surgeons would have to remove it.

They also started her on a cutting-edge immunotherapy drug called OPDIVO, a therapy that works with T-cells in the immune system.

Just six weeks after the surgery, she was back at her job as executive director of the North Alabama chapter of the American Red Cross. In summer 2017, the Red Cross deployed her to Texas to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and this year to Florida after Hurricane Michael.

Now, a little more than two years after the lobectomy, Anderson has full function of her lungs and is essentially cancer-free. She’s taken up yoga and plans to start a program of high-intensity interval training at the start of the new year. More than likely, she will have to continue the immunotherapy treatments for the rest of her life.

Who gets it?

A woman learns she has lung cancer every 5 minutes, according to the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE initiative, or the Not What You Think Campaign. As many as 20 percent of men and women diagnosed with lung cancer never smoked, according to the American Cancer Society. While smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, radon gas, occupational exposure to carcinogens and outdoor air pollution are the second-, third- and fourth-leading causes of lung cancer, according to the American Lung Association.

Cancer Treatments Centers is partnering with LUNG FORCE on its campaign to raise awareness of and advocacy for lung cancer. For more information, you can visit:https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/lung-force/about-lung-force/featured-campaigns/not-what-you-think.html.

Listen to yourself

Anderson hopes her experience will empower other women battling lung cancer.

“Trust your instincts,” she said. “Be your best advocate. Get a second opinion if something doesn’t feel right, even if that means going outside of the medical system you are currently in. We need to become stronger about doing that,” she added. “Realize you’ve got today and you can do a whole lot today.”