I didn’t even know I had stage IV lung cancer until I went to my doctor in September 2016 for back pain. A CT scan revealed large tumors on my left adrenal gland and right lung. They were taking up so much space in my chest and abdominal cavity that they were literally getting on my nerves.

For me, the pain caused by those tumors and the itchy skin rash I developed as a side effect of immunotherapy were the hardest parts of having...