Sara’s update: living well with stage 4 EGFR+ lung cancer, three years on
Sara first shared her story with us in 2025. She’d already survived aggressive breast cancer 15 years earlier, and in 2023 she was diagnosed with stage 4 EGFR+ lung cancer after a cough that wouldn’t go away.
A year on, her update starts with something she didn’t expect to be saying.
“I am still alive, didn’t think I’d ever be saying that 3 years ago, and I am living well.”
Sara calls her targeted therapy a miracle. The side effects are manageable, and she’s grateful for the time it’s giving her. It’s been a lot to carry, though. As well as her own cancer, her husband has had mouth cancer.
She says cancer is a mind game, and the last three years have felt like living in what she calls Limbo Land. What helps is staying in the moment and not looking too far ahead. She takes notice of the small things: her family, the wind on her face when she’s out walking, birdsong, daisies and dandelions, sunrises and sunsets, and a hot sausage roll from Greggs.
“I am still alive, didn’t think I’d ever be saying that 3 years ago, and I am living well.”
“As I walk, my mind is soothed. I absolutely allow myself to feel every emotion, and waves of sadness, once acknowledged, can then leave with the turn of the tide.”
She knows she’s at the point where the cancer could start to progress.
“I can’t change that, but I can have impact on what I do now.”
So she keeps busy. Sara and her husband pick up stray golf balls and give them to their local hospice shop, and they’ve handed over hundreds so far. She litter picks regularly, and this year she did a sponsored walk with her family to raise money and awareness for EGFR+ Lung Cancer UK. She also works with NHS staff, her local Cancer Alliance and the National Team, so that patients have a say.
“My life is different now, but I very much see it as a good life.”
