How Immunotherapy Saved Lenny’s Life

Lenny Weiland’s lung cancer survival story is one that can benefit all of us. The New Jersey resident credits immunotherapy treatment for his recovery and good health.

“I feel that I have been blessed to be on immunotherapy,” Lenny told CRI. “I think it is a game-changer. Right now, in my journey I feel fantastic.”

It all started in late 2019, when Lenny noticed that he had leg pain and began to have trouble walking. At the time, he was also coughing and wheezing. His wife urged him to visit a doctor to see if anything was wrong.

“After 34 years of marriage, I listened to my wife,” Lenny recalled. “I had two tumors in my left lung, a walnut-size tumor on my right femur, as well as a small lesion on my cerebellum.”

The diagnosis was stage IV lung cancer that had metastasized, and the retired sales representative required immediate surgery. An already urgent situation was both ‘upsetting and scary’ for Lenny because his brother-in-law had received similar news three years prior.

Lenny’s cancer exhibited PD-L1 expression, which is a protein that clings to a cancer-fighting T cell, essentially concealing the disease from immune system detection. He took the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab, known by the brand name Keytruda®; that can block the immune cell receptor PD-1 to remove this cancer-cloaking mechanism, in combination with chemotherapy, to target the cancer cells. Lenny’s immunotherapy treatment taught his body how to detect and eliminate the cancer tumors.

“Every scan for three months started showing the tumors were shrinking, which was great,” Lenny stated. “I have been in remission since September 2021.”

Lenny has resumed living his normal life, and echoed the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali when he said, “Don’t count the days, make the days count.” CRI is grateful for immunotherapy advocates and cancer survivors like Lenny, whose message holds the power to help create a world immune to cancer.