When Bärbel Söhlke from Düsseldorf, Germany, got the diagnosis of lung cancer in 2008 it was unthinkable to live more than 11 years with stage IV lung cancer.

 

After some very difficult early years the hopeless situation changed fundamentally with the detection of a ROS1 translocation in her tumor cells in 2012. She was the first European ROS1+ patient to be treated with crizotinib, which led to a complete remission that continues to this day.

Today she is doing well enough to enjoy life and be active in lung cancer advocacy. She joined the ROS1+ Facebook group in 2015. Also since 2015, a steadily growing group of ROS1ders from all over Germany and the Netherlands have joined forces and meet once a year in Cologne.