Liz Manvell Liz Cervini Manvell

Welcome to my CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting, and I hope to see you often.

For most people, being diagnosed with cancer comes as a shock. I was in the process of preparing for lumbar spine surgery, when the routine pre-surgery thoracic MRI on October 28, 2019 discovered a mass on my left lung. When it was confirmed to be lung cancer, the surgery was cancelled, and I was suddenly thrown into the world of biopsies and tests to determine the extent of the cancer.  I was totally surprised because I always thought of lung cancer as happening to people who smoked; I never smoked or lived in a household where people smoked. But I've since learned that 40% of lung cancers occur in people who have not smoked. I have no lung-related symptoms (just the sciatica pain, which I am still hoping to get relief from).

I chose to seek treatment at City of Hope near Pasadena, CA because of its reputation treating and researching cancer, specifically lung cancer, and I have been working with them since my first biopsy result. As soon as testing is done, I will know how we are going to proceed with treatment and what it will be like. So far I am very impressed and encouraged by the patient-centered feeling at COH; everyone is kind, helpful, and knowledgeable, and makes us feel welcomed and confident that we are being well cared-for.