Detecting Lung Cancer Blog

In one of our past posts during our Real People, Real Lung Cancer Stories series, we featured Barbara, who lost her first husband Erwin and her younger sister Laurie to the disease.

There is an article that has gotten much recent press, which states that many late-stage cancer patients are likely to misunderstand treatment. An excerpt is below:

The coming of fall also ushers in the most highly effective awareness and advocacy campaign in health care: October’s Breast Cancer Month. It is a wonderful campaign to raise awareness for the disease, and one that should be used as a guide for similar campaigns.

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.

Last week, we posted about a lack of awareness for lung cancer awareness and the need for support with November, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, approaching. This week, we want to take a more optimistic look at things, and remind everyone that, even in the bleakest of situations, there is always hope. Even when things seem at their worst, there are always reasons not to give up, and always reasons to look toward the future. A few of those reasons are below:

Most people know that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Every October, with the regularity of the changing leaves, the country turns pink—politicians and celebrities wear pink ribbon pins, fountains flow with pink water and pink sweat suits fill the streets for walkathons.

In the past, we’ve posted about 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?

Most people could create a fairly accurate list of lung cancer risk factors just from their general knowledge of the disease. Smoking, exposure to secondhand smoke, asbestos, radon or other harmful carcinogens, a family history of lung cancer—all of these factors play a role in determining an individual’s personal lung cancer risk.

Although many discussions are focused on secondhand smoke and its relation to lung cancer risk, it is important to understand that secondhand smoke, as a “known human carcinogen,” is probably responsible for many other problems besides lung cancer.

When you think of lung cancer, a lot of images come to mind – young, athletic non-smokers, however, are probably not who most think of.