Detecting Lung Cancer Blog

In the past, we’ve had many posts on the stigma of lung cancer, and how that could lead to a lack of funding for lung cancer. But one big question still remains – could the guilt that smokers feel actually be a lung cancer risk factor?

Not surprisingly, a lung cancer diagnosis often causes the patient to grieve. Lung cancer is a serious illness, often detected at an advanced stage when the chances of recovery are greatly reduced. Sadness and anger at the situation seem to be a natural reaction—depression, however, is another story.

It is common knowledge that smoking is hazardous for your health, but often, people overlook the facts because they are addicted to smoking.

However, it is important to remember that it’s not just the heavy smokers who get lung cancer – even light smoking can increase your lung cancer risk.

According to this article from CBS News, “Scientists who studied the health records of 43,000 men and women have shown that smoking fewer than five cigarettes a day, commonly known as light smoking, triples the risk of dying of heart disease or lung cancer in men. In women the increased risk of lung cancer was five times greater.”

Not only do light smokers get cancer, however – non-smokers, such as Michaelle, featured in this story, also contract the disease.

One thing is clear – regardless of your smoking history, everyone should be aware of the common lung cancer symptoms. While smokers and ex-smokers remain at higher risk for lung cancer, everyone should know about the common symptoms of the disease, and talk to their doctor about lung cancer.

Surrounding the excitement of the Beach Boys 50^th Anniversary Tour is a sobering reminder about the number one cancer killer, and the amount of people that it impacts each and every day.

Carl Wilson, a founding member of the Beach Boys, succumbed to lung cancer in 1998.

According to this Rolling Stone article, Wilson, 51, was battling the disease for about a year and died with his family by his side. Although he was diagnosed with cancer last year and underwent chemotherapy, Wilson insisted on being a part of the Beach Boys tour the summer before he passed.

Wilson is just one of many well-known people who have passed from lung cancer, even though the disease is not often spoken about, particularly in Hollywood.

When compared to other cancers, lung cancer is seemingly unknown. It is often associated with smoking and considered to be very deadly, but few people know anything further than that about the disease.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer, killing more than 160,000 people in the United States alone each year. That is equal to the population of Dayton, OH, killed each year by this deadly disease . Despite this, in the United States, lung cancer receives just $1,200 of federal funding per death, while breast cancer receives more than $27,000 per death, followed by $14,000 for prostate cancer and $6,500 for colon cancer.

That is why we at Oncimmune value raising more awareness for lung cancer – and why we are excited to announce our most recent lung cancer awareness campaign.

Despite getting less attention and less funding than other forms of cancer, the fact remains: Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer in the United States.

In fact, a little known fact is that more women die of lung cancer each year than the combined cancer deaths of all female related cancers combined. That results in more deaths than breast, ovarian and cervical cancers combined.

As we’ve mentioned in past posts, detecting lung cancer as early as possible is the key to increasing the 5-year survival rate. If the disease found in early stages, the lung cancer 5-year survival rate more than triples from 15% to more than 50% and some studies have shown if found in stage 1 a 90% survival rate.

That leads to the following question – How do we start finding these cancers earlier? According to this recent article, early screenings may be one answer.

Very exciting news was recently released regarding lung cancer and early lung cancer detection, before lung cancer symptoms appear.

The Scottish Government is setting up a randomized clinical trial with 10,000 high risk individuals, beginning this year, of EarlyCDT-Lung. The study will focus on the health economic benefits of pre-screening for lung cancer with EarlyCDT-Lung, brought about by an increase in early stage cancers and a reduction in advanced stage cancers.

We at Oncimmune believe that this is a significant step forward in early lung cancer detection, as well as the future of autoantibody technology for cancer detection.

People already know that smoking is hazardous to your health. You’ve probably heard that when it comes to your health, smoking can cost you, on average, 14 years of your life; something we will explore in more detail on a future post.

But what can smoking cost you in time and money? Have you ever taken a moment to identify what you spend on cigarettes in this regard?

Despite the very sobering statistics surrounding lung cancer, it is important to remember one thing— There is always hope (and people do survive was is typically a poor prognosis).

People do survive lung cancer, and from them, we can learn a great deal. In honor of those survivors and as a way to share their stories of hope and courage, we just released our first, free ebook, featuring the unique stories of 9 lung cancer survivors taken from the many different blog posts we've done over the past couple of years.

After filling out the short form in the link attached, you will be emailed a free ebook of stories from people just like you and your loved ones, who have fought lung cancer — And who have won. Below are snippets of the stories featured in the ebook.

When compared to other cancers, lung cancer is seemingly unknown. It is often associated with smoking and considered to be very deadly, but few people know anything further than that about the disease.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer, killing more than 160,000 people in the United States alone each year. That is equal to the population of Dayton, OH, killed each year by this deadly disease . Despite this, in the United States, lung cancer receives just $1,200 of federal funding per death, while breast cancer receives more than $27,000 per death, followed by $14,000 for prostate cancer and $6,500 for colon cancer.

There is a lack of awareness when it comes to lung cancer, as seen by the lack of funding. As a result, there are a lot of basic questions about lung cancer that people just don’t ask. In this post, we would like to revisit some of those common questions that we’ve touched on in the past, in hopes of raising more awareness about the disease.

In past posts, we’ve talked about the stigma attached to lung cancer patients. We’ve even featured the story of Gary, a lung cancer survivor who experienced the stigma first hand. Now, we feature a recent study that highlights the stigma even further. According to a recent study at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, a sense of rejection, shame and isolation can heighten depression in those who have lung cancer.

Psychcentral.com shared a piece about the recent study, which we have highlighted parts of below. To read the full article, click here.