Stephen Huff was about to get married when he had a scan to investigate why he had been feeling short of breath. He was a fit 29-year-old who had played professional baseball and never smoked, so he wasn\u2019t expecting the diagnosis: stage 4 lung cancer. \u201cI had multiple spots all in my lungs, my neck, my spine, my liver, my brain \u2013 just everywhere,\u201d he says. \u201cI put on a brave front, but deep down I was terrified. I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d be here in six months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily for Huff, his mother, a cancer researcher, encouraged him to get a new kind of test that is quietly revolutionizing treatment. Rather than focusing on the place in the body where the cancer originated \u2013 for example, the lungs, bowel or skin \u2013 the new approach focuses on genes. The aim is to pinpoint the exact mutation driving the tumor, so it can be switched off with targeted drugs that act like guided missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through this fresh approach, Huff \u201chit the lottery\u201d \u2013 as his oncologist told him \u2013 because it meant he could be treated with a recently approved drug that specifically targeted the genetic alteration driving his cancer. Within weeks, Huff began to feel better. \u201cMy first scan showed that basically every tumour site had either shrunk or gone away completely,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, thanks to this precision oncology method, more and more people like Huff are surviving cancers that were once considered a death sentence, like lung, pancreatic and brain cancer. \u201cBeing able to identify exactly what makes a cancer tick is having an incredible impact,\u201d says David Thomas, a pioneer of precision oncology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. But surprisingly, it has received little fanfare outside of the medical community so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> A revolutionary way of targeting tumors could beat even the worst cancers\n\nWe have long treated cancer based on its location in the body. But a whole new approach that analyses tumors differently is now helping people survive forms of cancer that were once considered a death sentence\n\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/eLjdh5vd1z\n\nhttps:\/\/t.co\/GekaZnFhSP<\/p>— David Ullrich (@DavidUllrich202) October 13, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>\n