What about me?
February 26th, 2009
A blog entry by someone who wonders what about me?…
I recently received a forwarded video in my e-mail from a well-meaning relative, with this impassioned request:

My LADY FRIENDS…………PLS WATCH THIS VIDEO
IT IS IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US AS WOMAN
BREAST CANCER-RARELY HEARD OF !!!!!!!!!!!!
PLS PASS ON………………….PLS !!!!!!I watched the video – about inflammatory breast cancer – and agree that it is important information for women to have. But I felt like writing back, “What about me? I’m a woman and I’ve never smoked, but I have lung cancer.” I guess if anyone is going to bring lung cancer to the attention of the public, it will be those of us who are touched by it. There are two things that get in the way… the stigma of smoking, and the fact that there are so few lung cancer survivors.
I never thought I would get cancer. Heart disease has taken most of the women in my family. But if I did get cancer, I thought it would be breast cancer. (One of my aunts is a breast cancer survivor.) I dutifully scheduled yearly mammograms. The idea of having a breast removed was scary to me… I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being disfigured like that. Now I wish I were a breast cancer patient. I would at least have a fighting chance to become a survivor, with or without a breast. With advanced lung cancer I have virtually no chance at all. Here are some hard facts comparing lung cancer with breast cancer, and important information about the second leading cause of lung cancer… Radon. I have no way of knowing if exposure to radon caused my lung cancer, but there were no other risk factors.
- Only 16 percent of lung cancer patients are diagnosed before their disease has spread to other parts of their bodies, (e.g., regional lymph nodes and beyond), compared to more than 50 percent of breast cancer patients
- Roughly 84 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer die within five years of their diagnosis, compared to 11 percent of breast cancer
- Lung cancer will kill nearly twice as many women this year as breast cancer.
- Less money is spent on lung cancer research than on research on other cancers. In 2006, the National Cancer Institute estimated it spent only $1,638 per lung cancer death compared to $13,519 per breast cancer
- 10-15% of new lung cancer cases have never smoked.
- Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking, and the number one cause of lung cancer in non-smokers.
- Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that up to 15% of lung cancers worldwide are due to radon exposure. 1 in 15 homes in the US is estimated to have an elevated radon level
What is Radon?“Radon is an odorless, colorless gas that is released from the normal decay of uranium in the soil. Radon can enter homes through cracks in the foundation, floors, and walls, through openings around sump pumps and drains, and through gaps around pipes. Radon may also be present in the water supply in homes that have well water.
“Radon is an odorless, colorless gas that is released from the normal decay of uranium in the soil. Radon can enter homes through cracks in the foundation, floors, and walls, through openings around sump pumps and drains, and through gaps around pipes. Radon may also be present in the water supply in homes that have well water.You can hire someone to test your home for radon, but simple test kits under $20 are available at most hardware stores. These kits are usually placed in the lowest living area in the home and left in place for a few days. The kit is then sent to the manufacturer who returns a report with a radon level.” (About.Com)
At 1:11 am on March 1st, 2009 Angie B. Derrick said:
I am so very sorry that you are having to fight this fight. I lost my beloved mother to this terrible disease, and everyday is still a struggle. She fought valiantly for six months, but was too weak to fight it anymore. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t want to do to lung cancer what it did to Mama. She was my best friend.
On the night that we first met her oncologist, after being admitted to the hospital, one of the first things he asked her was if she smoked. She had quit ten years earlier. I’ll never understand why the internist that she saw regularly never discussed the possibility of lung cancer and any screening methods that might be available to her. I’ve since learned that it’s just simply not done.
I commend you for all that you do to fight lung cancer. You are a true warrior! I just wish that my mother were here to fight along side you.
Thank you for bringing this awareness to light. God bless you.
Angie Bankhead Derrick of South Carolina