11/26/2025
Marc Poirier, a husband, father of five and grandfather of 10, hadn’t smoked in decades but knew something was wrong when he couldn’t get rid of what he thought was a cough from a cold. When his family was sick at Thanksgiving last year and he still had the hacking cough two months later, he explained to his physician that he hadn't smoked in 30 years, but when he did smoke, he was committed. He knew that lung cancer was a possibility. A PET scan found a tumor and a biopsy revealed that this possibility became reality: Marc had cancer.
Marc started receiving lung cancer treatment at El Camino Health, led by Dr. Shane Dormady, the medical director of the El Camino Health Cancer Centers in Mountain View and Los Gatos. Dr. Dormady called Marc’s response to treatment “a miracle.” Through various therapy regimens combining newer techniques with older chemotherapy drugs, El Camino Health was able to nearly eliminate the tumor in his lung and the cancerous lymph nodes in his chest prior to surgery.
“When he actually went for surgery, it was unbelievable. He had something that I've never seen before in lung cancer called a pathologic complete remission, in which there were no viable cancer cells remaining after all of the lymph nodes and the lobe of the lung were removed,” said Dr. Dormady, “They were gone.”
Dr. Dormady is currently researching these outcomes compared to patients who have minimal or no response to therapies before surgery. He and Marc both urge others to strongly advocate for their health and quickly seek professional help. If we can catch lung cancer early, that’s a win.
Read more about Marc's story here: https://www.elcaminohealth.org/newsroom/lung-cancer-life-spans-leap-from-months-to-decades
Learn more about lung cancer care at El Camino Health here: https://www.elcaminohealth.org/services/cancer-care/cancers-we-treat/lung-cancer
