All forum members - hello.

 

My father recently died from lung cancer, don't know what type of cancer it was (a biopsy wasn't done - but he had a lung tumor and he had been a lifetime smoker for 46 years and painted cars for ~15 years with almost no protective equipment until ~13 years ago). He had almost no symptoms except severe back pain bron a spinal metastasis that greatly reduced his mobility (he complained of back pains since April but wasn't diagnosed properly until August). One day he came out of his bedroom bleeding from his nose and mouth, then collapsed and died within literally half a minute (all attempts of resuscitation failed).

 

What possibly could have caused such a sudden death? Since no autopsy was done (and later he was cremated), I can only speculate. Most often people with cancer gradually lose strength, then weight and ultimately, die after months.

There is no standard progression for the various forms of cancer, and even for one particular form it can vary massively between individuals. I am no medical specialist so I won't speculate on what happened to your father, I can only extend my condolences.

 

Quite a bit is dependent on what complications may occur and where metastases go to. Cardiac metastasis is rare as a result of lung cancer (to my limited knowledge) but can result in sudden death.

 

If anything, lung cancer is associated with a wide variety of potential causes of death (see e.g. Nichols et al. Arch Pathol Lab Med—Vol 136, 2012).