PATIENT STORIES
Every Day to Live
Carol Willis
Menu
PATIENT STORIES
Carol Willis
“Faith, prayer and strength. You have every day to live.”
Jessie Stern was driving home when her car was rear-ended at a stop sign. The following weekend, Jessie, 69, a retired mother and grandmother from Harrisburg, Pa., began feeling pains in her abdomen. She visited her local emergency room and received an examination, which included an M.R.I. and an X-ray.
“It turned out there was nothing physically wrong with me from the car accident,” Jessie, a smoker for the past 52 years, says. But doctors noticed an abnormality in one of her lungs while looking at her scans and scheduled a biopsy. “The specialist said that I had Stage III lung cancer,” she says.
Jessie was suffering from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the most common type of lung cancer, which makes up 80 to 85 percent of cases, according to the National Cancer Institute.
At first, Jessie was treated with chemotherapy and radiation, but the treatments weren’t working. So a second chemotherapy was tried, but Jessie didn’t like the way the treatments made her feel and asked to stop the treatment. Her oncologist suggested they look for a different option. After more biopsies, her doctor determined that she was a candidate for Immuno-Oncology therapy. Jessie’s doctor prescribed Opdivo.
After a few months of receiving treatment, Jessie began to see improvement. Her tumors were shrinking.
And the latest set of Jessie’s scans have come back clear – no detectable sign of cancer.
A self-described people person, Jessie admits to struggling with depression after learning of her cancer. “I stayed strong and tried to be positive,” she says. “That, along with prayer, got me through it.”
Today, she exercises at the gym and watches her diet more than in the past. And she shares her story with other cancer patients through a support group at her oncologist’s office, believing that “It’s better to hear how to deal with cancer from someone who has experienced it.”
Now, Jessie is feeling good and looking forward to a future without cancer. “Faith, prayer and strength,” she says. ”You have every day to live.”
PATIENT STORIES
Built to Fight
Experiencing the benefits
Every Day to Live
Waiting for a Breakthrough
The patient stories shared in this Annual Report depict individual patient responses to our medicines or investigational compounds and are not representative of all patient responses. In addition, there is no guarantee that potential drugs or indications still in development will receive regulatory approval. This Annual Report contains statements about the company’s future plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from those indicated as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. These documents are available from the SEC, the Bristol-Myers Squibb website or from Bristol-Myers Squibb Investor Relations. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our estimates only as of the date hereof and should not be relied upon as representing our estimates as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our estimates change. This Annual Report also contains certain non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted to include certain costs, expenses, gains and losses and other specified items. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are available on the company’s website at www.bms.com
430 E. 29th Street, 14FL, New York, NY 10016 • 212-546-4000
