Four years ago, Joanne Cure, a retired flight attendant from Hoschton, was given two years to live after doctors diagnosed her with stage 4 lung cancer — despite never smoking a day in her life. Today, at 78 years old, she’s in remission and standing strong with her family, defying all odds.
It began with what she thought was a minor cough.
“I said, I feel fine, but I got this silly little cough,” Cure recalled.
That cough turned out to be the first sign of something much more serious. On March 3, doctors told her she had lung cancer. Less than a month later came even more devastating news — the cancer had spread to her brain.
“She says you’ve got brain cancer. I said, what? This is not a joke. He says, no, this is serious. He says that’s what makes you stage four right there,” she said.
Doctors gave Cure just two years to live.
But she refused to accept that prognosis. Her determination — and her faith — became her driving force.
“Because I believe,” she said with conviction.
Her oncologist, Dr. Ioana Bonta, calls her recovery nothing short of miraculous.
“Thankfully, we see more and more miracles these days with the tools in our toolbox,” Dr. Bonta said.
Cure underwent surgery to remove the upper left lobe of her lung, followed by treatment with Osimertinib, a targeted drug designed for patients with an EGFR gene mutation, the source of her cancer.
“I know it’s just alphabet soup, but to us it’s so meaningful,” Dr. Bonta explained. “Those cancer cells — when they don’t grow, they die. So the cancer not only stops spreading, it starts shrinking.”
Today, Joanne Cure is living proof of how far cancer treatment has come — and how faith and perseverance can make all the difference.
“Surviving stage four lung cancer in your 70s is special,” Dr. Bonta said.
Cure remains active, reading her daily devotionals and spending time with her family. Her goal is to keep living — and she’s already set her sights on another milestone.
“I told the doctors early on I was going to live to 88,” she said with a smile.
For now, Joanne Cure is doing just that — living with gratitude, grace, and unshakable faith.
