News 12 health report inspired viewer to get lung cancer screening. It saved her life
"I felt like it was haunting me. I said to my doctor, I feel like it's essential, I've been smoking, I keep seeing it, please order it," Deb Greco says.
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A Connecticut woman says the advice she received during a News 12 health report prompted her to get screened for lung cancer, which helped save her life.
Deb Greco says she decided to take control of her health by quitting smoking and scheduled a physical.
Right after making that decision, Greco saw a News 12 health report from Nov. 2023 on lung cancer screenings. In it, Dr. Michael Ebright of Stamford Health says doctors want to find patients with lung cancer while they still feel fine and are at the earliest possible stage.
"I felt like it was haunting me. I said to my doctor, I feel like it's essential, I've been smoking, I keep seeing it, please order it," she says.
Following a screening, Greco learned she had a tumor that was just above her spine. She underwent chemotherapy and immunotherapy to shrink the tumor followed by surgery by Ebright.
"In Deb's case, we did her operation robotically to remove the tumor through small keyhole incisions where we sneak in between the ribs with video cameras. That leads to a quicker recovery. The patients get less pain, and most of my patients don't require narcotics when they get home," Ebright says.
Greco tells News 12 she is grateful for Ebright's advice and shares this recent report from her doctor.
"[I have no] living cancer cells. Every inch of the cancer, including the margins, was removed from my body and I'm essentially cancer free. If I didn't have that test it would have spread to my spine," she says.
