As I looked over the most recent New York State report card on lung cancer from the Lung Cancer Alliance (one that, thankfully, does not resemble my children's report cards), I was feeling discouraged. This is lung cancer awareness month, and I want to party! Yet the pink themed parties of last month had more milestones to celebrate.
Still...as I poured over the current clinical trials for lung cancer, research that is going on this very moment, the sun broke through the clouds. Even though lung cancer research is grossly underfunded relative to some other cancers, scientists are looking hard for answers. Many studies are in progress looking for ways to help us treat lung cancer more effectively, diagnose the disease earlier, and, hopefully, gain a better understanding of how we can prevent lung cancer in the first place.
If the report card discouraged you as well, perhaps a peek at some of the research in progress will lift your spirits, AND, ignite your passion to spread the word that lung cancer research needs more funding. Check out:
Photo: istockphoto.com
Dr. Eldrige makes an excellent point about the status of things with Lung Cancer research. Lung Cancer is such a powerful medical problem not only in the United States but in the world and yet, it seems to receive less attention than other diseases. Let’s hope that the new year brings us newer and better treatments for this difficult disease. Thanks, Dr. OH Wesly
I lost my mom to lung cancer back in 2002. She’d been a heavy smoker most of her adult life, but had quit 5 years prior to her lung cancer diagnosis – but still she got it. How could this be?
I’d therefore like to caution researchers in their tendency to blame tobacco use alone for the increases in lung cancer within the last century. Increased exposure to man-made electromagnetic radiation parallels the lung cancer rise perfectly, too. ‘Think’ power lines, radio, TV, and more recently, cell phone and wifi tower radiation.
I’m not saying tobacco use isn’t part of the lung cancer equation, but it is definitely only one part of it. The other half of the equation is exposure to electromagnetic radiation. Why do I say this?
Please read ‘Cross Currents’ and ‘The Body Electric’ by Dr. Robert O. Becker. Also, google the Bioinitiative Report.
Regenerative cells and cancer cells look strikingly ‘chaotic’ – and most importantly, similar. So if a person who smokes needs to repair lung damage more frequently, and if these chaotic regenerative cells are called into action during an exposure (a person lives close to a transformer, for example) or are not turned off in time (a person works near a wifi antenna), lung cancer results.
You won’t believe me though unless you read these books. Tobacco + EMF exposure = Lung Cancer, not cigarettes alone. Dr. Becker is deceased, but he spent his entire life researching the non-thermal biological effects of these exposures.
So please stop blaming cancer on bad habits and bad genes – read these books first!
I have been fighting lung cancer for several years now. The problem began when through a CAT scan my tumor was picked up in 2006. I had never smoked, but my mother and maternal grandfather both died of the disease and never smoked, nor were we around second-hand smoke. I was told when they found the tumor and I saw a world famous surgeon at USC Norris Cancer Center that I looked to “healthy”, never smoked and my mother and grandfather had probably been exposed to asbestos. He told me he was 99% positive I did not have lung cancer. It was at that time 1 cm. Dr. Jeffrey Hagan at Norris Cancer Center followed me every 3 months with alternating PET and CAT scans and told me I had nothing to worry about. He never bothered to read the radiology reports that it was growing the entire time and at that point I was not educated enough to know to ask for them. You have to be your own advocate. After following me for over 1 year he told me I had lung cancer. By this point it was too late. I had my right lower lobe of my lung removed in January 2008, and by July it was back but in my lymph nodes now. I had two more surgeries, chemo, and radiation. Nothing worked. I called my siblings when I found out I had lung cancer. One brother was tested and it came back that he was already in Stage 4. He and I are now both dying from the disease but doctors will still tell you there is no”pregenetic disposition to the disease”. We will be the 5th and 6th members of our family to die from this disease who were non-smokers. I later found out that my great uncle died at 60 and his son died at 40 of the disease. There are no pink ribbon parades for lung cancer, because people with this disease are assumed to be smokers. Twenty percent of all lung cancer patients will never have smoked. Lung cancer is the major cancer killer in the U.S. Even when you are going to a world famous surgeon at USC/Norris Cancer Center you have to be your own advocate. Always ask for the radiology report. Get copies of the CAT and PET scan reports. Read them and google it if you don’t understand something. I am dying now because this world famous surgeon could not take the time to read the reports. BE your advocate. Get at least two or three opions from different doctors. I have learned all this from 3 years of fighting this disease. I try to educate everyone around me. Don’t lose your life because the doctor did not take the time to read the report.
Educate yourself! You do not have to be a smoker to get this disease.