In Memory of Mary Lynn Moser
By Tom Moser
My wonderful wife Mary Lynn survived breast cancer for five years, 2005-2010. She then was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer in 2012 and experienced that for ten years.
Until her final year, 2022, no one who met Mary Lynn would have any idea she was dealing with cancer. She continued to be one of the friendliest and kindest persons ever, and her strong Christian faith kept her looking forward. She worked hard at staying fit, through trainers and daily 40-minute walks with me.
Treatments for her lung cancer and subsequent brain metastases included three lung surgeries, two chemo regimens, gamma knife procedures that addressed 23 brain metastases, “LITT” brain surgery (which was a mistake for her) and two emergency brain surgeries for resultant infections, an ipi/nivo immunotherapy regimen with considerable side effects and hospitalizations, and whole brain radiation.
LMD developed around the middle part of 2022, when even among top medical institutions there seemed to be little knowledge and understanding of it, along with really no promising treatments.
The onset of LMD was devastating to Mary Lynn’s quality of life. Basically, the brain and body functions became disconnected. She could not walk safely up or down stairs; falls even on level ground became a risk; speech at times would be incoherent; she could not use a computer as fingers would hit the wrong keys; and headaches became constant and excruciating.
LMD became the stage of Mary Lynn’s journey in which we ran out of options and lost hope.
In hospice, morphine was provided to resolve the head pain, which provided great relief until Mary Lynn passed to heaven and her savior Jesus in October of 2022. In her final days, she spoke excitedly about heaven and those she would get to see again, and she reached out with loving messages to her friends and family.
Having seen firsthand the devastating impacts of LMD, my hope and prayer is that this awful disease/cancer can be treated successfully in the future. I’m sure Mary Lynn is smiling from heaven at seeing the work of the Leptomeningeal Cancer Foundation and all those who are becoming involved in LMD research and clinical trials around the world.