Ashley Vassallo, 34, is young, active, and a nonsmoker, so when the Bay Area-resident had a cough, doctors assumed it was due to COVID or another common ailment. But Vassallo was actually in the early stages of lung cancer, which is often considered one of the most preventable types: Roughly 70% of cases are a direct result of cigarette smoking. However, lung cancer among women under 50 is rising—and that doesn’t seem to correspond with an increase in smokers. Because it’s still relatively rare in young people, doctors often rule out a bunch of other health issues before even considering cancer, which is exactly what happened to Vassallo. Here’s her story, as told to associate health conditions director, Julia Sullivan.I’ve spent the majority of my life focused on well-being. I eat plant-based foods, work on my mental health (I’m a social worker for people in hospice), and am active—I have a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, lift weights, and am into yoga. My sons are also my world. I’d take them in regularly for check-ups, but I seldom went myself. Still, I did all the other things you’re told to do to be healthy.In fall 2021, everybody in my family—me, my husband at the time, and my two boys—got sick. We went to urgent care and were tested for COVID, pneumonia, and the flu, all of which came back negative. Everyone else seemed to recover within a day or two, but not me. My cough lingered, but it was subtle. I felt like something was a little off—there was a heaviness in my chest—but I could breathe just fine.During Christmas 2021, my symptoms took a turn. I was lying in bed and felt a sharp pain near my lung. I was having trouble breathing. I knew something was wrong, so I made an emergency telehealth appointment. The nurse practitioner said, “Honey, it sounds like stress and anxiety. You should talk to a therapist.’” (I don’t know why, but that ‘honey’ really got to me.) Sure, I was stressed—I was in the process of coming out and knew I’d be leaving my husband at some point, though I didn’t mention that over the call—but this was *not* anxiety. It felt like a sharp knife stabbing me in my chest.The next day I went in for an evaluation with that same health care provider. Despite having never tested positive, she was sure I had COVID or long COVID. I also mentioned I had asthma as a young kid, so after those things were ruled out, she jumped to that as the culprit. She sent me off with an inhaler, but it didn’t help, even after using it for a few weeks. (She told me at a follow-up appointment that I probably wasn’t using it properly.) After some Googling, I thought I might have acid reflux. I mentioned this to the nurse practitioner at another follow-up appointment a few weeks later, and she agreed we could try a GERD diet with foods that wouldn’t upset my digestive system. That didn’t work, either, and I was losing weight (which I thought was related to the diet at the time).
I’m a 34-Year-Old Nonsmoker Who Got Lung Cancer. These Were My First Symptoms
