Jeffrey Crawford, MD, and Susan Blackwell, PA

Lung cancer is the most deadly of all cancers, killing more people each year than breast, prostate, and colon cancers combined. Approximately 15 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer will live five years, a lower percentage than other common cancers.

Despite the statistics, Jeff Crawford, MD, chief of medical oncology, who has dedicated his clinical practice and research to patients with lung cancer, is optimistic about the improvement in treatments for lung cancer patients.

“When I started the thoracic oncology program at Duke in 1990, chemotherapy wasn’t routinely prescribed to lung cancer patients, but now it’s common and the chemotherapies have improved,” he explains.

“In addition, there are new combinations of drugs that are helping lung cancer patients and new genomic tests that are dramatically improving the way we treat patients. We are now able to personalize a patient’s treatment of lung cancer so that each person receives the most beneficial treatment based on his or her own genomic signature."

The research is helping patients live long and is also improving the quality of life for patients. “Lung cancer patients are now living better,” says Susan Blackwell, PA, a physician assistant who has worked with Crawford for the last 19 years.

“There are drugs that ease the nausea and pain often associated with treatment, and we are able now to provide better supportive care.”

Bob Norris: Five-Year Survivor and Harley Enthusiast

Bob Norris

It’s been five years since Bob Norris of New Bern, North Carolina, was diagnosed with lung cancer. To celebrate, he bought a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Diagnosed in the spring of 2003 with stage II lung cancer, Norris came to the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center for a second opinion after first visiting a local oncologist.

“The statistics were not encouraging,” says Norris. “But I knew Duke had a great reputation and I wanted to talk to their doctors.” Norris met with Crawford and surgeon David Harpole, MD. Blackwell and thoracic surgery physician assistant Scott Balderson, PA, completed the team.

After talking with Norris, the doctors suggested that he receive a lobectomy (surgery to remove a lobe of the lung) and then three months of chemotherapy. Norris followed their recommendations.

“The treatment went relatively smoothly,” says Norris. “There were no surprises during treatment. Before the surgery, Dr. Harpole and Dr. Crawford explained exactly what would happen, and they were able to stick to their plan.”

Today, a lasting memory of the surgery is the scar on Norris’s back. “That’s a reminder to never smoke cigarettes again,” says Norris.

After completing chemotherapy, Norris, an alumnus of the University of Maryland, was presented with a Duke baseball cap. Each year, he adds a pin to the cap to commemorate another year of life. He now only visits Duke for an annual checkup.

“Everyone at Duke couldn’t have been more professional, friendly, and compassionate,” says Norris. “They are all so busy, but they take the time to talk to you about your treatment options and don’t make you feel rushed at all.”

“I feel like Susan Blackwell is a member of my family now,” says Norris.

“Mr. Norris is healthy today thanks to the best surgical techniques and advances in adjuvant chemotherapy,” says Crawford.

Today, Norris rides his Harley often and keeps himself busy by taking banjo lessons. He also drives around his neighborhood every week on a modified scooter collecting aluminum cans to sell to a recycler. The money he collects from recycling (more than $2,000 in the last year) supports cancer research.

Bo Johnson: Young Survivor and Cancer Advocate

Bo, Addi, and Christi Johnson

Bo Johnson of Lake Norman, North Carolina, tells a much different story. Johnson, a non-smoker, was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer -- the most serious stage -- in 2006 at the age of 34.

“I never had any symptoms except for a dry cough,” says Johnson, “When I was told I had lung cancer, it was a catastrophe -- complete shock multiplied by 1,000.”

Johnson was diagnosed with cancer by a local oncologist. After the diagnosis, he and his wife, Christi, began searching for the best place to receive treatment.

“I looked at all of the doctors in the country,” explains Johnson. “I knew my best decision was to go to Duke to be cared for by Dr. Crawford.”

After meeting with Johnson, Crawford suggested that he enroll in an innovative clinical trial at Duke which was testing a new targeted therapy for lung cancer.

“Bo was willing to try experimental procedures more than other patients,” says Blackwell, who is also a member of Johnson’s treatment team. “From day one, he was on a mission to receive cutting-edge therapy.”

“I was told I had four to six months to live, and that was not good enough as far as I was concerned,” says Johnson. “I’m going to do everything I can to live to walk my daughter down the aisle.”

“At Duke, we translate the newest laboratory findings into the most advanced treatments for our patients,” says Harpole.

There are clinical trials at Duke studying new therapies for a broad range of cancers, and many of these trials are not available at other medical centers, he explains.

“Being a medical center with strong research capabilities allows patients to get exciting experimental therapies. Some phase I trials at Duke are testing treatments that may not be available to the general public for years.”

A year after Johnson’s diagnosis, he was referred for consideration for a double lung transplant. In May 2008, R. Duane Davis, MD, a Duke thoracic surgeon, performed Johnson’s transplant -- a procedure that is relatively rare and involves substantial risks.

Davis estimates that possibly only 50 lung cancer patients have had a double lung transplant. Johnson remained at Duke University Hospital recovering from the procedure for five months.

Today, he is back home with his family. “So far, so good,” he says. “If it wasn’t for this transplant, I’m not sure I would be alive right now.”

Johnson has returned to work, but tires easily. He works as much as possible -- often three to four hours a day -- as chief marketing officer at Financial Independence Group, a financial marketing company.

He is currently taking drugs to prevent infection associated with the lung transplant and to fight rejection. He may eventually begin taking additional drugs to prevent the cancer from returning.

Three months after his diagnosis with cancer Johnson, along with his wife, Christi, created a nonprofit foundation to fund lung cancer research at Duke, and raised more than $75,000 in its first three months.

Lung cancer research receives less funding from government and private foundations than other common types of cancer. The Johnsons decided to name the foundation Addi’s Cure after their then 15-month-old daughter.

In February 2009, Johnson presented a check to Crawford for more than $62,000, bringing Addi’s Cure’s total donation for lung cancer research at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center to more than $161,000.

“Through the foundation’s support of the thoracic oncology program at Duke, we will be able to continue to develop and apply the latest techniques and treatments to each patient in order to provide the opportunities Mr. Norris and Mr. Johnson received,” says Crawford.