Sara’s Year of “Yes” After Rare Lung Cancer Diagnosis

When the phone rang on a Friday afternoon, Sara Ingersoll’s stomach dropped. “This can’t be good,” she remembers thinking to herself. On the phone was Dr. Luke Seaburg, an interventional pulmonologist at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health (VMFH). Results had come back from a biopsy, and Ingersoll knew something was wrong. It was cancer, and not just any cancer, a rare form of lung cancer.

“My role is to be as honest as possible and to get patients quickly from diagnosis to cure,” said Seaburg. “Patients often look to us to understand the gravity of the situation. For Sara, it was news we weren’t expecting. It was a cancerous lesion. Our Integrated care model allowed us to coordinate care quickly and get her to surgery as fast as possible.”

As a 35-year-old, non-smoker, with no family history, the diagnosis came as a complete shock.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Ingersoll. “Never in a million years did I think it would be cancer. You never think you will hear those words. But in an odd way, there was also a sense of relief, like I finally had answers, and that was validating. It explained all the respiratory issues.”

Seaburg says that although lung cancer rates are declining, the incidence in people who are non-smokers isn’t. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 10 to 20 percent of lung cancer diagnoses are people who have never smoked.

For more than a decade, Ingersoll suffered from various breathing problems. Diagnoses of respiratory viruses, pneumonia, allergies, and asthma never seemed to explain the root cause of her symptoms. She felt like something was missing. “It never felt right,” she said.

So, she just endured. Then, in January 2024 right at the start of the new year, she started coughing up blood. After going to urgent care, she was referred to a pulmonologist. They ordered a computerized tomography scan, also called a CT scan, to get a more detailed picture of her lungs and chest. What they found was a tumor on Ingersoll’s left mainsteam bronchus.

Ingersoll put her trust in the team at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, and they came up with a complex treatment plan to remove the tumor.

“I didn’t know any other people my age who have gotten diagnosed with cancer,” she said. “It was really scary.”

The rare cancer, mucoepidermoid carcinoma, was slow growing and malignant. Due to its location, the plan to remove the tumor was incredibly complex, requiring a team of multidisciplinary specialists to evaluate her care and treatment approach.

Dr. Misho Hubka, a board-certified thoracic surgeon at Virginia Mason Medical Center, devised an intricate and personalized surgery.

“I felt really good about putting my trust in his plan, and in his ability to take care of me,” said Ingersoll. “I never doubted him. He really cared about me, not just as a patient, but as a person. He would always greet me with a hug, and he really took the time to go over every detail of the surgical plan.”

The surgery would occur in phases, requiring Ingersoll to be on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) during the surgery. ECMO is an advanced therapy that provides prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to a person, essentially functioning as a patient’s heart and lungs. Doctors Hubka and Moraca, a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon, teamed up to perform the complex robotic surgery, approaching the case with innovation and clinical excellence.

“To accomplish an operation like this one - preserving Sara’s lung while removing her cancerous airway is extremely challenging,” said Hubka. “To do so robotically requires a nuanced understanding of both the technology and complex physiologic issues related to operating in the center of the chest while being able to oxygenate the patient. This is why Virginia Mason is the right place for such an intricate operation - working with Dr. Moraca and our ability to use ECMO and the surgical robot made it possible.”

At VMFH, thoracic surgeons partner with specialists in cardiac surgery, gastroenterology, pulmonary medicine, and oncology. VMFH surgeons control slim robotic tools that offer precise movements through tiny incisions. These techniques and world-class post-surgery support help patients have a faster, safer, and easier recovery. VMFH is among the highest volume robotic thoracic surgery centers on the West Coast.

On April 22, Ingersoll went into surgery feeling nervous and hopeful.

Six hours later, Ingersoll was in recovery. The surgery was a success, and the mass blocking her bronchus was removed.

Ingersoll stayed in the hospital for a little more than a week to recover. During that time, she said she felt supported and cared for, noting the team became like family.

Road to recovery

Today, Ingersoll is cancer-free, and she’s approaching every day as a gift. She says she’s embracing new adventures and currently in her year of “yes” after her battle with cancer.

“Within six months, I was both diagnosed and cured of cancer,” said Ingersoll. “Looking back, it’s surreal. When you’re going through it, you’re in survival mode.”

Ingersoll recently went to Disneyland to celebrate, where she said she completely lost her voice from joyously screaming on roller coasters.

She said it was an eye opening experience seeing signs throughout the park that read, “you should be in good health in order to ride this ride” and having to remind herself that she was.

Ingersoll said she’s so grateful for the compassionate and expert care she received at VMFH.

“Dr. Hubka gave me the gift of breathing easy, both literally and figuratively,” said Ingersoll. “At the beginning of the year, I could barely walk up a hill. By the end of the year, thanks to him, I was walking 25,000 steps a day at Disneyland.”