Advice on father’s lung cancer

Hi there, I wondered if anyone can give us some advice. We are in Reading, Berkshire. My father is 81 and was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (non small cell lung cancer) in July 2019. Upon diagnosis it had already metastasised into his backbone. They first put him on chemo with vinorelbine. After that the scan showed the cancer was still the same but had not spread. Then the oncologist started him on immunotherapy with atezolizumab. He has had one drip of that already and the 2nd this week. Today we saw the specialist. He told us that, if after the 2nd drip of atezolizumab, the cancer doesn’t show improvement he would discontinue it and that there are no further treatments. We were a bit shocked to hear this, and are thinking of getting a second opinion. Looking at literature on the internet, there would appear to be various things like chemo in conjunction with immunotherapy, other immunotherapy drugs, adaptive T cell therapy  etc. I’m not a doctor and my fathers tumour would appear not to carry distinctive genetic markers, but a second opinion would maybe be worth it. There is even then the non-conventional treatments like dendritic cell therapy in Germany, fenbendazole as per the Joe Tippens case etc. Any guidance would be much appreciated. 

  • Hello Lichade73

    I'm sorry to hear about your father's diagnosis and that there's been no improvment despite treatment. 

    It's understandable that you might like to explore things further with a 2nd opinion and you can read more about how to do that on our website here

    If you'd like to talk things through with one of our team of nurses you're welcome to call them. They may be able to offer some information about the other treatments and therapies that you've mentioned in your post. They're available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm on 0808 800 4040. 

    I hope that this helps. 
    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator