Teen athlete's lingering fatigue leads to rare lung cancer diagnosis and surgery
Cameron Rider, a 16-year-old high-school athlete, was found to have a rare lung tumor after months of repeated pneumonia-like illness.
During pre-season football practice, 16-year-old Cameron Rider grew unusually winded and later developed fever, prompting multiple ER visits for pneumonia that never fully resolved. After a specialist performed a bronchoscopy, doctors discovered a lung mass that was diagnosed as mucoepidermoid carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. He was referred to the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, where Dr. Danielle Cameron led an eight-hour surgery to remove his left upper lung lobe and the entire tumor.
Post-operative recovery involved intense pain management and lung-re-expansion exercises, but Rider was discharged after a week and cleared for activity months later. He missed most of his baseball season but returned to soccer and ice hockey, now preparing for college while undergoing annual scans to monitor for recurrence.