Euri Solis: Living Life to the Fullest

It’s just a little pill that Euri Solis takes each day. It seems like such a small thing, taking just a moment to wash it down. But for Euri, this is everything – the difference between life and death. And it was a team of specialists at The University of Kansas Cancer Center that brought Euri from the shock of a threatening stage IV cancer diagnosis to living a full life in remission.

An avid runner, in summer 2023 Euri began noticing back pain that he attributed to activity. He tried physical therapy, assuming he had a musculoskeletal injury. But the pain worsened to the point where “I couldn’t do anything,” he says. Euri’s wife, Erin, recalls finding him curled on the floor in agony. A seemingly healthy 50-year-old, Euri had an MRI that delivered shocking images of widespread cancer.

At the cancer center’s Olathe campus, oncologist Larry Corum, MD, met with Euri. “For me, this was a really compelling sort of collision of science and emotion,” Dr. Corum says. Euri’s cancer, which originated in his lungs, was caused by a rare genetic mutation and had metastasized to his bones, liver and brain, also causing a buildup of fluid around his heart. Dr. Corum knew he had to help this active husband and father.

The team approach at the cancer center brings a variety of specialists together to collaborate on complex cases like Euri’s. “I’m a medical oncologist. I don’t have the expertise and the knowledge and the skill set of a radiation oncologist or a thoracic surgeon or a cardiologist, which we needed in this case,” Dr. Corum says.

Bertram Maidment, III, MD, medical director of radiation oncology at the cancer center in Olathe, oversaw the imaging that identified Euri’s metastases and planned radiation therapy to treat the bone and brain lesions. To reach the brain metastases with pinpoint accuracy and high-dose radiation, Euri received stereotactic radiosurgery, a type of noninvasive external radiation beam treatment.

“It became clear with advanced imaging that there was more to the story than chronic pain,” says Dr. Maidment, who was part of Euri’s care team. “Euri’s pain was so severe, Dr. Corum knew he needed treatment immediately. He couldn’t wait for something that might take weeks and weeks to alleviate pain.”

In addition to the metastases, there was fluid squeezing Euri’s heart. Cardiologist Jamil Abuzetun, MD, collaborated with the cancer center team to treat the fluid impinging on Euri’s heart so cancer treatment could begin.

Euri was understandably terrified, but he also knew he was in good hands and called upon the same inner resources that fueled his history of achieving goals – from earning a PhD to winning half-marathons. “I felt a hope, knowing that these professional doctors have knowledge. They know what to do,” he says. “There was a lot of support from the medical team that we saw. And I said, ‘You know, we can do this. Let’s try. And I’m ready.’”

Erin also recalls the support she felt from the physicians, nurses, schedulers and everyone else she and Euri encountered at the cancer center. “They don’t talk to us or treat us like doom and gloom. It feels much more positive,” she says. Cancer center staff even gave the Solises a children’s book to help them explain Euri’s diagnosis to their 2 young daughters.

Euri’s cancer was unusual. Lung cancers are primarily classified as small cell or non-small cell, which account for the majority of lung cancers. Scientists discovered that many non-small cell lung cancers are linked to various gene mutations that accelerate their growth. “Once upon a time, we simply gave chemotherapy to everyone with lung cancer,” Dr. Corum says. “Some patients responded. Some patients didn't. We didn't always understand the reasons, but in the last 10 to 15 years, genomic testing and molecular testing have become critical to understanding the nature of a cancer and what is driving that cancer to grow.”

Discovering that Euri had a rare ALK gene mutation, which accounts for about 5% of non-small cell lung cancers, usually in young nonsmokers like Euri, called for a precision approach. The gene fuses with another gene to produce an abnormal protein that spurs malignancies to develop. The only good news for Euri, but critical to his outlook, was that this type of cancer is highly treatable with a class of targeted therapies, known as ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).

Living in remission

The targeted therapy that is keeping Euri’s cancer in remission is just one example of the types of treatment approaches that are becoming more common as researchers learn more about the genesis of specific cancers. Dr. Corum notes that the pace of discovery is accelerating, and all lung cancer patients at the cancer center undergo genomic testing.

Euri’s cancer care team is elated at his prognosis.

"It can be a heavy responsibility – knowing that your decisions will impact the fate of your fellow human. Those early decisions are critical when you're thinking about how to extricate someone from a life-threatening scenario, but then there's that moment of elation when we're able to deliver,” says Dr. Corum.

“It makes us feel phenomenally good as a team to be able to have all the tools here to help people like Euri lead a productive, happy life, to create more memories and to flourish,” says Dr. Maidment.

“It always feels good to know the patient is doing well and that what we’ve done for him is helping,” says Dr. Abuzetun. “That’s the best part of the job.”

Erin notes that the couple’s faith in the research community continues to be strong. “We’re both researchers, so we see the importance of that. We know there are physician-scientists working hard to come up with new treatments every day, trying to understand not just lung cancer but all forms of cancer,” she says. “And I think that’s where we have the most hope: Research is going to continue to evolve.”

Euri is back to living life to the fullest. “My body feels calm,” he says. He views his cancer as a chronic illness he can live with. He works full time and stays busy keeping up with his growing daughters’ many activities. “I’m coexisting with the cancer,” he says.