Playing with a ‘Crappy’ Set of Cards Lung Cancer Dealt

In this episode of the “CURE Talks Cancer” podcast, we spoke with Dr. Dan Tran, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon at VCU, about his journey with cancer and how his experience influenced his career in medicine.

Tran, who was in residency and about to begin a five-month rotation in anesthesia in the fall of 2017, developed back pain that was so excruciating it started to affect his ability to walk. 

Within months, Tran started experiencing numbness in his legs when he decided to go to the emergency room to get checked out. After several tests, and just days before Christmas, Tran was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer at the age of 30.

Now, three years out from his diagnosis, Tran discusses what his journey was like, what it has been like to be a medical professional with cancer, and what advice he offers his patients who are coming in for treatments as a result of oral side effects of cancer treatment. 

“Everyone gets dealt a different set of cards and I got delta a crappy hand,” said Tran in an interview with CURE®. “But, it kind of depends on what you do with it. I've always had a pretty laid-back kind of personality and understood that there's things that I can control and things I can't control. This is something I could not control, but I can control what I do with it.”