Thanksgiving is a time for counting our blessings, but for too many families the spirit of the season will be diminished by the loss of a loved one to lung cancer.

November, designated Lung Cancer Awareness Month, is set aside to educate Americans about the deadliest – and most preventable – form of cancer.

The statistics are startling: 87 percent of those diagnosed with lung cancer will die within two years of their diagnosis since the disease typically is discovered after it has progressed, according to Nasser Hanna, M.D., an oncologist and a researcher with the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.