Preparing for Lung Cancer Awareness Month
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.
But who has heard of Lung Cancer Awareness Month?
It does exist. In fact, it directly follows Breast Cancer Awareness month, taking place in November – only a few weeks away.
Sadly, ribbons of any color are scarce during Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and, although there are a few walkathons and other events around the country, they do not attract the large crowds seen at breast cancer events.
We hope that you’ve taken time to support lung cancer awareness throughout the year, particularly next month. Even something as simple as sharing information about lung cancer and lung cancer symptoms can make a difference.
We need to do our part to raise more lung cancer awareness, as well as funds for lung cancer research as, according to the Pittsburg Post Gazette, lung cancer got $1,414 in research funding per death, compared with $23,754 per death for breast cancer and $11,959 per death for prostate cancer.
The question still remains, however: Why are so few people willing to speak publically about the disease? Desperate Housewives actress and two-time Emmy winner Kathryn Joosten, who passed away earlier this year and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001, was one of the few people with a larger platform speaking up about the devastating disease.
We hope that this year more people, particularly those with larger audiences, are willing to speak out about lung cancer and inform the general public. Until that time, it is up to us to start the movement. As we mentioned before, every mention helps. Whether it’s informing someone just how many people lung cancer affects, trying to end the stigma against lung cancer, donating money to an organization like Lungevity or National Lung Cancer Partnership, or displaying a lung cancer ribbon, every act you do to help raise more awareness truly does help.
We encourage you to visit our lung cancer risk assessment to see if you or a loved one are at an increased risk. You can also learn about lung cancer symptoms here in case you have current concerns about a potential symptom you or a loved one are experiencing.
Detecting lung cancer as early as possible is the key to increasing the 5-year survival rate. Instead of thinking of that knowledge as a burden or as a negative weight hanging over your head, it should be seen as an opportunity—an opportunity to detect the number one cancer killer when a tumor may be smaller and localized and thus the survival rate may be greater and you have the best possible chance of defeating the disease.
To learn more about EarlyCDT-Lung, a blood test for early lung cancer detection, click here.
