Taylor's last Facebook post -

Comfort & Healing
07/12/18:

I can't believe it's been a year since this all started. I can't believe how arduous the day to day has been. Stage 4 lung cancer; non small cell adenocarcinoma; a genetic cellular rearrangement called ALK (Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase). I had to enroll in hospice this week. The bone pain In my spine and hip along with the inability to eat from reaction to chemo has me dropping weight and vomiting fast. At this point focus is on comfort and pain control because neither targeted, chemo, or immunotherapy is working in a curative sense on my disease. When I asked about radiation therapy for the bone pain my oncologist showed me the images of my spine (littered with cancer spots) and told me that going after my spine aggressively with radiation would be like 'spot welding.'

So now it has been a year since I was diagnosed and it's my 31st birthday not my 30th. I've tried (3) different kinds of targeted therapy. One worked well for a few months but the other two were duds.

Essentially my body cleverly built a resistance to the one medicine that was helping me and now that medicine is no longer effective at blocking or inhibiting the production of those ALK cancer cells; therefore my lung liver and spine have been vulnerable to growth.

Once the third ALK inhibitor targeted therapy began to fail and scans revealed the disease still progressing; we turned a direction we were avoiding: Chemo/Immunotherapy.
Chemo/immunotherapy would prove to be rough and I've spent the last couple months fighting this. Since starting chemo I have had to make the switch to hospice and continued to face the challenges of intense bone pain. I continue to hope and fight for comfort and a comeback. The support I've received through you all is inspiring and uplifting. If there is anything that can pick us up from within I'm hoping my immune system in the peak of the summer will rise to the occasion. One year down with cancer, now on to the next 20 -Tay