MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast

18 Years After Lung Removal: Katherine Keys' Record-Breaking Mesothelioma Survival Story (Part 2)

• MesotheliomaPodcast.com • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Katherine Keys was given one year to live. Eighteen years later, she's the longest-surviving mesothelioma patient to undergo extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP)—a surgery so aggressive that European studies concluded it wasn't worth performing.

In Part 2 of this two-part episode of MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast, host Dave Foster—Executive Director of patient advocacy at Danziger & De Llano with 18 years of experience—continues his conversation with Katherine, an 18-year pleural mesothelioma survivor whose outcome defied every statistic.

Together, they cover:

  • How Dr. David Rice performed Katherine's EPP on July 18, 2007, removing her lung and lung lining through an incision requiring rib access—and why she credits his thoroughness for her outcome
  • The six-month oxygen dependency that followed surgery—requiring supplemental oxygen 24/7, even in the shower—and the physical therapy needed to relearn basic functions like swallowing
  • Why Katherine's case was discussed at the International Mesothelioma Interest Group meeting in Philadelphia, where surgeons confirmed no other EPP patient has survived as long
  • The daily limitations she manages 18 years later, including nerve damage on her right side, breathing difficulties on poor air quality days, and needing to eat slowly to prevent food from going back up
  • How her pre-surgery fitness level—she was an avid runner who worked out constantly—likely contributed to her eligibility for and recovery from such an invasive procedure
  • The role of faith and gratitude in her survival: "Every morning I always count my blessings to be still alive"
  • Why she refuses a lung transplant and continues to see Dr. Rice, who calls her a "celebrity" at the clinic
  • Her message to newly diagnosed patients: "It's okay if you have a bad day"—perspective from someone who beat 12-month survival odds by more than 17 years

Who this episode is for: Patients considering EPP surgery, families weighing aggressive treatment options, long-term survivors navigating life after mesothelioma treatment, and anyone who needs proof that outcomes can exceed the most dire prognoses.

The average mesothelioma survival after EPP is 18-31 months. Katherine's 18+ years represents an extraordinary outcome—and her story offers both practical insights about post-surgical recovery and genuine hope for families facing this diagnosis.

Resources:

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit https://dandell.com/

MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

unknown:

You're listening to MESO, the Mesothelioma podcast, where education, and outreach come together for families facing

David Foster:

What what kind of symptoms did what how did things medically once he they drew the fluid off, right? Did they ever draw the fluid off? They did, I guess, right? Or no?

Katherine Keys:

Um, talk in. And they were trying to talk, they were trying to draw the fluid when they did the big needle. Yeah.

David Foster:

Yeah. And you had like a brick, still had that feeling of a in, you know, in your chest for that whole time.

Katherine Keys:

I sure did. I sure did. But um, Dr. Rice, David Rice, he is such a wonderful guy.

David Foster:

Yeah.

Katherine Keys:

I mean, he does his homework, he does somebody else's I mean, he is just he just doesn't leave anything. No, he doesn't leave any stones unturned. Right. So he sat down, he showed me what my lung should look He showed me what it looks like with the mesothelioma on there. And he um sat down and explained to me everything, the procedures and everything. And I was like, okay, let's go, let's do it. Wow, yeah, let's do it.

David Foster:

Good.

unknown:

Yeah.

David Foster:

So when when did you have the surgery?

Katherine Keys:

I had my surgery done on July the 18th of 2007.

unknown:

Wow, okay.

David Foster:

Yeah. And what and what tell us now? You were a big runner, right? You were in great shape at that time, weren't you?

Katherine Keys:

I mean oh yes. I worked out all the time. I always worked out. Yeah, I had to be I had to be in really good shape to have the surgery.

David Foster:

Right.

Katherine Keys:

Absolutely.

David Foster:

Yeah. And then uh they did this. Just tell us a little bit about that. What what what did they do to you?

Katherine Keys:

Um, they went in and um through my back, and they um my like sixth my sixth rib, and they went in and took my lung and the lining of my lung.

unknown:

Wow.

Katherine Keys:

Yeah. And so I was in the hospital probably till like August, from July to about the end of August. Right. And then um I got discharged in in August. And then in October is when I started doing my Wow. Wow. Yeah. So after after you had your lung removed, was it was it really difficult because what I've heard from other uh is that it's a little scary and difficult to try to breathe with just one lung. I mean, was there is there's some uh difficulty there or uh well yes. I was on um as I was like on um oxygen machine for 24-7, 24 hours a day. Oxygen everywhere I went, go to the shower, oxygen, lay down, sleep.

David Foster:

I didn't know that. Uh-huh. Yeah, I was on you know, you know, uh a study was done 10 years ago, maybe a little longer, and it was done in and it was about whether you should even do this right? You know, having a lung removed, right? It's such a major, major thing. And in Europe they decided it wasn't worth it, and um they didn't do it, and then the outcome wasn't wasn't but in your case, you had a fantastic outcome. Did they do heated in uh heated chemo for you too? No, they didn't do okay, they didn't do an IV, okay. That's very interesting. Okay. Now, Dr. Rice is amazing, he is an exception.

Katherine Keys:

George Rice is amazing, okay. He is the best.

David Foster:

There's a lot of great things about him. He's also kind of a um relatively famous uh medical artist, too. He is I've seen his some of his artwork, and really it stunning. You would have thought he drawn it was a painting. I mean, but you would have thought it was a actual of medical organs and that sort of thing. So absolutely amazing. He has such a great attitude, but but anyway, you're very fortunate to have him. And I uh at this last meeting I went. Go ahead. What we're gonna say.

Katherine Keys:

Yes, because uh I'm very fortunate. I was very fortunate because they had tried to send me to another doctor, I think he was Chinese or something.

David Foster:

Uh-huh.

Katherine Keys:

I can't even remember his name, but that's who I to have. But I told you I'm a spiritual person. I had already prayed about this stuff. I mean, really prayed. I I to this day, I still have a relationship with my Yeah, it's so much stuff he lets me know so much.

David Foster:

Um, and what was I gonna say? So at the the last international mesothelioma meeting I to, uh, which was in Philadelphia, it's it it goes to a country every year. This year, yeah, it was in the US. But I was talking to one of the surgeons that was in that study in Europe, and and I had mentioned you, he said how long she's been out. I said, I thought it's been about 18 years, so almost 18 going on 19 years. He goes, That's you're the longest surviving uh patients that actually had pleural mesothelioma that had their lung removed. So you are no one else has survived. Things are changing now. There's a lot of new therapies and that sort of thing have improved, uh, but but for what you went through, you've had an amazing recovery and and all of that. So, what did you do as far as recovery? What was your what was your regimen and how long did it before you had to you could kick that oxygen bottle away?

Katherine Keys:

Oh gosh. Oh, I was on oxygen for seems like forever, but um I I may have been on it, I would say at least six months. Wow, okay. At least six months.

David Foster:

Okay.

Katherine Keys:

Day in, day up.

David Foster:

Were you walking and exercising at that time or just kind of laying up trying to trying to get through it?

Katherine Keys:

Um, I did have I did have uh physical therapy after they showed me how to, you know, kind of pace myself and to breathe, and I actually had to learn how to chew my food all over again because they said I was I was swallowing my food backwards.

David Foster:

Really?

Katherine Keys:

Which is really kind of, you know. But even to this day, as far as that goes, um, I that's why I try, I always have to get it to go. If I go out to eat, I always have to get it to go box I have to eat slow. If I don't eat slow, the food goes back up into my nose and it stays there, and it's so painful. So I have to eat really slow.

David Foster:

Wow.

Katherine Keys:

And rather than me hold up everybody else, I was like, oh, I'll just eat it's so much, and then so did you exercising again?

David Foster:

What did you do to kind of get back into a normal okay?

Katherine Keys:

Yes, yes.

David Foster:

I don't know if you ever ran again, so I don't know if could run.

Katherine Keys:

Um I haven't ran, but I do kind of get on the and jog. Okay. Yeah. Jog a little bit. Yeah. I I still do I still do exercises. I still get on there. Um, thank God for silver sneakers, right?

David Foster:

That's right.

Katherine Keys:

So um but you still even after even after um the surgery and and you were on oxygen, you did start working out, your endurance isn't what it used to be, is it? Or it is not. Yeah, it's not changed some of your life and you've to adapt to what what you have, you know, what you the limitations that you have. Yeah, some days I can just smooth, I can just go through, you know, like get in my shower or whatever. And then other days it just depends on how the air is. I don't even have to go outside, and I can tell you if it's a bad air quality day. Oh wow. Okay. So you have to be careful when you absolutely.

David Foster:

You still go back and see Dr. Rice. Is he uh still your doctor?

Katherine Keys:

He's still my doctor. Uh-huh. He's still my doctor. He tried to turn me over to somebody in his office, but I'm not having it.

David Foster:

What is what does he say to you about your, you know, amazing recovery and and success?

Katherine Keys:

Well, every time I go there, they always tell me that a celebrity. And I was like, okay, celebrities. But, you know, I I guess, you know, you guys saying you said, which I I knew that and and one of the things that I every morning I always count my blessings to be still alive, you know, and doing decent, you know, Because my life has changed. But every morning I always thank God for another day, know, and whatever day it is, good day, bad day, me me, whatever, you know, it it it's always I always him for a good day because um when they told me, they me that the longest person or well they had told me at that time they told me that the longest person that I had like a year.

David Foster:

Yeah, yeah.

Katherine Keys:

They told me I only had like a a year.

David Foster:

Yeah, the average survival is like 18 months. It's gone up a little bit with some of the the chemo, new chemos and and um and some of the immunotherapy, but still what what you have done is absolutely amazing. So we're so we're lucky to have been part of that. We're so glad you're in our lives still, and um I'm glad I'm glad you guys think of me.

Katherine Keys:

I really, I really appreciate all of that.

David Foster:

We put you in our survivor book, and um really and and you're in you're in one of our books, and uh, but the thing is, you know, you're the only one that's you know doing so great, and no one would ever know, right? No one would know.

Katherine Keys:

So no, you can't look at me and tell. I mean, you really can't look at me and tell that I have one lung. And some people ask me, well, why don't you get a lung um transplant? Yeah, and I was like, no, and I and even um after I my surgery, it's kind of like you know how they take in the um that put do those pulmonary tests and and so um mine always came up to like maybe 60 or of me, you know, breathing. Wow, yeah, that's but I think it was big had a lot to with my me exercising, yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely.

David Foster:

Well, well, Catherine, we're gonna let you go. This is our, like I said, our first podcast, and uh for Mizo podcast. So we're so glad you joined us. We're gonna have you come back and do a couple more shows and episodes, and and let us little little other aspects of your life.

Katherine Keys:

And uh oh, I have lots and lots and lots of stories, of things to be grateful for, lots of things to be for. And I honestly and truly believe that my work is not because there are some people out there that need to and have support and know that it's okay if you have a bad day.

David Foster:

Yeah, you know, you had some really I mean, think about you know, people they break their nail and they get upset, right? So uh I can't find my wallet, you know.

Katherine Keys:

So uh but anyway, but you can't and even now, Dave, know, um I still suffer with um with uh nerve damage my right side. Yeah, every morning I get up, I have you know, I have to keep that. Right. Yeah, but hey, I that's just that's a part of my new

David Foster:

Well, we're all we're all blessed during our lives, and we look forward to talking to you again next week if up for it.

Katherine Keys:

So I am up for it.

David Foster:

We'll do another one and um tell another part of the okay?

Katherine Keys:

That sounds wonderful, Catherine. I appreciate your time. Thank you, Anna. You guys are so sweet. You are so sweet, Anna. Dave, there's no words.

David Foster:

Don't say it, don't say it.

Katherine Keys:

There's no words that can express how much you mean me in my life, and you know, I don't know what I would do if you weren't in my life.

David Foster:

Well, that's sweet. Grateful you said that. And we talk about you all the time, not the same way we about it. Yeah, y'all talk about me being a good thing. No, no, no, no. Much more flattering of that stuff. Anyway, okay, Catherine. We're gonna log off here, but uh, we'll talk to you next week and thank you again for gratefulness of your

Katherine Keys:

All right, all right, guys. Have a great weekend. You too.

David Foster:

Well, I would say happy Thanksgiving. We can say that again next week, okay?

Katherine Keys:

Keep your hands up. That's right.

David Foster:

That's right. Bye, Catherine.

Katherine Keys:

All right, bye-bye. It's been great. Bye, bye bye. Bye-bye.

unknown:

Thank you for listening to Miso, the Miso Thelioma podcast. For more information, resources, and support, visit our Danziger and Diano at dandel.com.

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David Foster

Host
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Anna Jackson

Co-host