An eighteen-year marathon against lung cancer: a family's road of never giving up

"The year I turned fifty, my whole world turned upside down at once." Recalling those days, Mr. Tseng's voice still carries a trace of emotion. That year, he had just left his longtime employer to start his own business when a chest X-ray after eye surgery unexpectedly revealed an abnormal shadow in his lung. The diagnosis that followed opened an eighteen-year journey of battling lung cancer.

Treatment as a marathon: one challenge after another

From the first operation to remove the tumor, the disease seemed to race against time. Over the years he underwent multiple surgeries—traditional open-chest surgery, robotic minimally invasive surgery, and even one case where a damaged blood vessel caused massive bleeding mid-operation, forcing conversion to a full thoracotomy. Every surgery brought enormous pain and risk, but Mr. Tseng always insisted on getting out of bed and walking the day after surgery. "If it hurts, it hurts. You have to move, or the fluid in your chest won't drain."

Beyond surgery, what left the deepest impression was the indescribable side effects of one particular drug. Once, on a business trip to Beijing, the drug triggered depressive symptoms so severe that for a fleeting moment he contemplated ending his life. Only later did his doctor explain that this was one of the drug's side effects. Even so, he never stopped moving forward. As the disease progressed, he also experienced brain metastasis; steroids brought his intracranial pressure under emergency control, and with oral targeted therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma Knife), the lesions were shrunk and kept stable.

"In eighteen years, very few people have had as many operations as I have and still kept working," he said with a slight smile.

Family companionship: the strongest support

Companionship has been the one constant on this road. Mrs. Tseng, who has a medical background herself, became her husband's "project manager": booking appointments, preparing medical records, discussing treatment plans with doctors, and even tracking and communicating test reports on his behalf when he refused to look at them. She admits: "It's as if I were the patient—but that's the role family can play."

Their daughter has been her father's emotional anchor. Affectionately nicknamed his "little darling" since childhood, she carves out two months every year to return to Taiwan and be with her father despite working in the United States, and they talk by phone across time zones every day. She always reminds her mother: "Dad is already doing great. If he can eat, that's the greatest happiness." That bond gave Mr. Tseng the strength to keep going through his lowest moments.

The importance of financial preparation and Patient Support Programs

Fighting cancer is not only a physical and emotional ordeal—it is a financial test. A single da Vinci surgery or Gamma Knife treatment can easily run from several hundred thousand to over a million NT dollars. Mr. Tseng admits he once had a poor impression of insurance, but by a stroke of circumstance the whole family had purchased medical insurance. "That step turned out to be the right choice, almost by accident. Without that coverage, the treatment costs alone would have crushed our family."

Beyond insurance, he also benefited from a Patient Support Program (PSP) run jointly by the pharmaceutical company and the hospital. The program provided dedicated health education, medication follow-up, and psychological support, easing the financial burden and giving the whole family professional resources to lean on. "The peace of mind of not having to worry about treatment finances lets a patient focus on getting treated."

Proving "never give up" with his life

Today, at 68, Mr. Tseng is gradually stepping back from work. Asked about the future, he says he seizes every chance to be with family and every day he can live normally. "I'm not a model patient—my doctors keep telling me to rest more, but I'd rather keep working. For me, having a goal and having people beside me is the best treatment."

Eighteen years of fighting cancer have written not just a medical record but a lesson in life. Mr. Tseng's story reminds us that in facing illness, professional medical care, family support, and financial preparation are all indispensable—and what truly keeps you going is the conviction to never give up.

Praise for PatientsForce service

Because his care involved specific self-paid treatments, Mr. Tseng noted more than once that while professional medical care matters, it is often "the details of service" that determine how patients and families feel in hard times. He gave special praise to the PatientsForce customer service team—whether by phone, email, or follow-up, they showed a reassuring efficiency and attitude. "Your email replies are fast, and when I call, no one leaves me hanging—someone picks up within three rings and clearly states the company name and their own." He recalled holding his own employees to the same standard back when he ran his business (Mrs. Tseng, listening beside him, shook her head and said that really was too strict...). It is precisely this professional ethos of "never keeping the other person waiting" that makes patients feel respected and valued. For patients shuttling to and from the hospital through complicated treatment regimens, getting a response right away is not just a matter of efficiency—it builds trust over time.

Mr. Tseng admits that PatientsForce's service standards even exceed what he demanded of the companies he once led. "If this were my company, this level of customer service would be the benchmark." For a patient who has been through countless surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, it is timely and reliable assistance that truly meets a customer's needs.