Linda North knew the risks cigarettes posed to her health. She didn’t know at 13, when she smoked for the first time, but she was heartbreakingly aware at 44 when she lost her mother to lung cancer. The loss didn’t break her of the habit, but in 2019, when Tina Whitehead, a nurse practitioner at Hyden ARH Clinic, suggested North, then 57, undergo a preventative screening, she didn’t hesitate. “She asked me if I would get the low-dose CT scan of my lungs,” North recalled. “She said she thought it would be a good idea.” Though North said she had no symptoms, she agreed with Whitehead. “I just wanted to see how my lungs looked,” she said. “Just wanted to see if everything was OK.” Each of ARH’s 14 hospitals offer low-dose CTs, a noninvasive, painless procedure that uses minimal radiation to screen for cancer in just 30 seconds. On April 18, 2019, North, a resident of Hell For Certain Creek in Leslie County, Ky., traveled nine miles to Mary Breckinridge ARH Hospital, where she underwent her first screening. “It came back OK, but they told me to have it done again in a year because there was a thickness in my left lower lobe,” she said. North’s second scan in October 2020 showed a 7 mm nodule in the same area. When a PET Scan the next month proved inconclusive in diagnosing cancer, she was told to follow up again in six months to look for changes. “And that’s when we started having trouble,” North said. Over six months, the 7 mm nodule grew to 10 mm, and on May 13, 2021, North was diagnosed with Stage I small cell lung cancer. “The doctor asked which way I wanted to go – either chemo or he could take half my lung,” she recalled. “He thought surgery was the best way to go so one week later, on May 21, 2021, they took out my left lower lobe.” North’s surgery, which took place at Hazard ARH Regional Medical Center, was a success and five days later, she returned home cancer-free. Since her surgery, she has regularly made the 30-minute drive to the ARH Cancer Center in Hazard for follow-up x-rays and scans, all of which have shown, “nothing suspicious.” Both North, now 61, and her son Ricky Griffie gave up smoking following her diagnosis. She credits guidance from above along with Tina Whitehead and ARH with saving both of their lives. “I tell her (Whitehead) all the time,” North said. “I probably wouldn’t be here otherwise.” And she recommends others take the same proactive approach that helped her. “It’s easy and it’s quick,” she said. “It helped save my life and it can save other lives, too,” page 15 Low-Dose CT HELPED SAVE HER LIFE PATIENT TESTIMONIAL
