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<\/p>\nA program called DREAM \u2014 which stands for Double Lung Transplant and Registry Applied for Lung Limited Malignancies \u2014 gave a D.C. resident a chance to fight off his lung cancer. <\/p>\n
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New cancer treatment gives DC-area Stage 4 patient a second chance<\/p>\n
David Peterson was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2019 after he sought treatment for a cough that wouldn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n
While he was a smoker, the softball-sized tumor growing in his lung was the result of a gene mutation \u2014 \u201cthe luck if the draw\u201d is how he described it.<\/p>\n
Surgeons removed the cancerous lobe but the cancer came back. He went through chemo and immunotherapy at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. The cancer returned again, more aggressively.<\/p>\n
By mid-2023, Peterson had a pulmonary embolism, was on home oxygen and, by his own account, had about two to three months to live. He was fooling himself, he said, but not the cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to get through this, no matter what,\u201d Peterson said of his mindset at the time. \u201cAnd I wasn\u2019t. I was going downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was also running out of options.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had gone through very end-of-the-line trials, just grasping at straws,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n
In a last-ditch effort, he traveled to Chicago in 2023 to undergo a double lung transplant at Northwestern Medicine, the only hospital in the country that performs the procedure on patients like Peterson.<\/p>\n
The program Peterson entered is called DREAM \u2014 which stands for Double Lung Transplant and Registry Applied for Lung Limited Malignancies.<\/p>\n
Northwestern Medicine performed the first surgery in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese patients were so hopeless at the time and they just dreamed for just some extra time,\u201d said Dr. Ankit Bharat, the executive director of Northwestern Medicine\u2019s Canning Thoracic Institute.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
David Peterson, of D.C., told WTOP a double lung transplant rid him of lung cancer and saved his life.
\n(Courtesy Northwestern Medicine) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Northwestern Medicine <\/p>\n
![\"peterson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/David-at-Northwestern-Medicine-3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In a last-ditch effort, David Peterson traveled to Chicago to undergo a double lung transplant at Northwestern Medicine, the only hospital in the country that performs the procedure on patients like him.
\n(Courtesy Northwestern Medicine) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Northwestern Medicine <\/p>\n
![\"Northwestern](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/David-post-transplant-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Northwestern is the only program in the country performing double lung transplants on Stage 4 lung cancer patients.
\n(Courtesy Northwestern Medicine) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Northwestern Medicine <\/p>\n
![\"Peterson](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/David-and-his-wife.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
David Peterson said the surgery saved and changed his life.
\n(Courtesy Northwestern Medicine) <\/p>\n
\n Courtesy Northwestern Medicine <\/p>\n
The concept grew out of Northwestern\u2019s COVID-era work. The hospital was among the first in the country to perform lung transplants on patients whose lungs had been destroyed by the virus.<\/p>\n
In those cases, surgeons had to remove severely infected lungs without spreading dangerous bacteria into the bloodstream. Bharat said the lessons learned translated directly to lung cancer cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought that for at least a cohort of patients that have disease confined to the lungs, we can carefully take those cancer-ridden lungs out and put new lungs in,\u201d Bharat said.<\/p>\n