Nipping your smoking habit in the butt may be your News Years Resolution, and it would be a good one; one that could save your life.

More men and women in the US die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer.

In years past, lung cancer was almost always a death sentence and it is still a challenge to treat.

But in this special Medical Moment Just Before Six, there is a new body scanner, the only of its kind in our area, that is giving doctors and patient's hope like never before.

Michael Fitzgerald, “Thirty years and, bad habit and that it was, it was a habit.”

49-year-old Michael Fitzgerald of New Carlisle, who had recently quit smoking after 30 years, is being treated for lung cancer at the new Goshen Center for Cancer Care in Mishawaka.

In October, he thought he had a bad cold.

“I had it for about three and a half months before I went and got it checked because I'm stubborn. I found out that I've got stage three Lung Cancer,” said Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald’s oncologist Dr. Nusrat Chaudhary started seeing Fitzgerald after he was flown by air ambulance to IU Medical Center and had an emergency surgery to open his bronchial tubes which were also affected.

I set him up for a PET-CT at that point which did show that he had extensively localized disease, we started him immediately up on chemo and radiation and he just completed it two weeks ago and he's been doing pretty well.”

Dr. Chaudhary and radiologist Dr. Mike Holt are using this revolutionary 64 slice PET-CT scan that combines the best of both PET and CT'S to give doctors a closer look at cancer and how it metabolizes.

Dr. Holt said, "What we do is we take the two different studies and fuse them into one image and this is the colored one and what you can see is anything that is bright yellow colored is going to be active tumor."

Dr. Holt says this new technology is giving radiologist a look at cancer like never before.

The PET CT scanner allows us to more accurately stage patients. It allows us to detect cancer earlier before it would be visible on a CT scanner or any other type of modality.

The scanner is also being used midway through Michael's treatment to see whether to check Michael's progress.

Technician Jeff Varga will be the man behind the curtain, or window, talking to Michael throughout the painless process.

Dr. Chaudhary says because the new 64 slice PET-CT scan gives them answers within minutes, they can almost immediately make what they hope will be life saving changes to treatment.

“Stage three lung cancer the survival is usually about five percent to ten percent five year survival, ten year survival with newer technologies and newer treatments that we can offer we can extend that,’ said Dr. Chaudhary.

In terms of what he is seeing, Dr. Holt agrees.

“It does save lives.”

While Fitzgerald says treatment is tough, he is determined to keep his sense of humor.

Fitzgerald commented on his hair, saying, "It's getting there, it's getting thin, {laughs}. I have lost some but I'm not a movie star so I don't care.”

His wife Karen, who herself suffers from lupus has no doubt Michael will beat his cancer and they will grow old together.

“I'm 100 percent sure he will,” said Karen.

For Michael's part, he plans to follow doctor's orders and make sure he's around for a long time.

“Eventually we're all going to go under, but I mean, I'm going to stay here and be as ornery as I can for as long as I can,” said Fitzgerald.

The doctors at Cancer Care Partners like what they are seeing with Michael's treatment, but he will have another PET/CT scan in two weeks just to make sure.

The scanner can also be used to diagnose and treat cancers from the head and neck all the way down to the pelvis.

For more information on the treatment we have a link on our website, click here.