Fighting ‘the Big C’

Lung cancer survivor Rick Maxey

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com

Although he never smoked, Rick Maxey was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 29.

“I was traveling for work,” he recalled. “I was in some of the best shape I’d ever been in. But when I’d wake up, I’d cough up a little blood.

“This went on for weeks. Then one day it became serious.”

In a way, he said, he was relieved when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Because it was 1993, and as a gay man with odd symptoms, it was just assumed he had AIDS. At that time, there still were no effective medications to treat HIV, and HIV test results took weeks to come back.

That left Maxey riding a roller coaster of emotions.

When his HIV test came back negative, Maxey’s doctor sent him for a CT scan and a biopsy.

The tests found cancer in one lung, encapsulated in the upper right lobe. He said he was lucky because his doctor would be able to remove the entire tumor.

“I didn’t have to have chemo or radiation,” he said.

For five years Maxey had a chest scan every six months.

“My oncologist said once you get past the five-year mark, your chances of a recurrence are the same as anyone else contracting it,” he said.

Maxey’s cancer was unrelated to smoking. His mother didn’t smoke, and while his father had smoked for about three years, he never smoked in their house. So Maxey’s case was one of about 20 percent of lung cancer diagnoses not connected to smoking.

Maxey said those in the LGBTQ+ community face a higher risk of lung cancer primarily because of higher rates of smoking as well as facing other risk factors. And cancers too often go undiagnosed because too many LGBTQ people don’t have insurance or can’t find doctors within the community.

Warning signs

Maxey said the first warning sign was just little bits of blood.

“When I would lay down, it would cause blood to collect in the lung,” he said. “The lung clears itself and I was spitting up blood.”

He was in good shape at the time, doing step aerobics three times a week. From the time he first noticed the blood to the time he was spitting up a lot of blood was only a few weeks. In that short period of time, his doctor estimated the tumor grew from golf-ball size to tennis ball.

Within days he was in surgery and then spent eight days in the hospital. He was off work for two months.

“I was told I had 100 percent chance of full recovery,” he said. “The surgeon was very confident he had gotten it all.”

At last year, at age 60, Maxey ran his first half marathon.

Stats
According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for both men and women. They estimate 226,650 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer and 124,730 will die from it. That’s about one in five cancer deaths.

LGBTQ+ individuals face a higher chance of contracting lung cancer than the general population due to greater prevalence of risk factors such as smoking and binge drinking. Other factors include excess body weight and poor eating habits. Higher rates of anxiety and depression are also thought to increase the risk of cancer.

Limited access to affirming healthcare contributes to poorer health outcomes. American Cancer Society studies show transgender and gender-nonconforming people are likely to be diagnosed at a later stage of lung cancer.

Adults 50-80 years of age who smoke should have an annual low-dose CT scan. In addition to coughing up blood, symptoms include chest pain, persistent cough, shortness of breath and new or worsening wheezing. If you have any of these symptoms, tell your doctor.

For more information or find a screening site, visit Cancer.org/GetScreened.