After Decades of Smoke Exposure, Casino Manager’s Lucky Break: Catching Lung Cancer Early

Pam Frebel, 68, smoked for 30 years but was never a heavy smoker. “I would have a few cigarettes a day,” she says. “Never a pack or even a half-pack a day.” Still, she worked as a manager in the gaming industry for 40 years – and, thanks to her work environment, spent a lot of time in smoke-filled casinos. About 10 years ago, her primary care doctor told her she fit the criteria for lung cancer screening with low-dose CT. When she followed through on the advice, it may have saved her life, she says.

Frebel had the yearly scans at St. Luke’s University Health Network’s main campus in Fountain Hill because she was living in the Lehigh Valley at the time.

In 2020, the radiologist who read the annual report saw an area on her left lung that was suspicious. The radiologist suggested she see an oncologist who specializes in lung cancer. The oncologist said Frebel could “wait and see” and have follow-up scans or discuss surgery options that may include the removal of the suspicious growth detected on the CT scan. Frebel said “hell no” to “watchful waiting.”

Early in 2021, Frebel went to see thoracic surgeon Meredith Harrison, MD, at St. Luke’s in Fountain Hill. The two immediately developed a rapport. “I felt instantly that she was the best,” Frebel says. “She is so high-energy, so positive.”

Dr. Harrison gave Frebel similar advice as the oncologist: She could monitor the suspicious growth getting frequent scans or opt for surgery as soon as possible. Frebel’s reaction was the same: Let’s operate now.

Frebel had surgery in the spring of 2021 to remove the affected area of her lung. Post-surgery pathology confirmed that the suspicious area on the CT was very early-stage cancer. Because her cancer was found so early, Frebel does not require any follow-up treatment other than to continue to have yearly lung cancer screening with CT.

Frebel can’t say enough about Dr. Harrison for both her exceptional surgical expertise and her compassionate bedside manner. “Dr. Harrison, and her staff, are just so lovely,” Frebel says. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the American Cancer Society recommend annual lung cancer screening for former smokers who are between 50 and 80 years old, have a 20-pack-year smoking history (meaning one pack a day for 20 years, or two packs a day for 10 years), and/or quit within the last 15 years. “I highly recommend anyone who has a smoking history to be screened like I was,” Frebel says. “It can, as I know, save your life.”