BY: DAGNY STUART

1/06/2011 - Paula Hart was just 46 when she starting having shortness of breath, along with a nagging cough and intermittent pain in her left shoulder.

After a trip to the emergency room in her hometown of Evansville, Ind., and a series of additional tests, doctors finally diagnosed Hart with non-small cell lung cancer. The cancer was already advanced — stage IV.

“It was very shocking,” remembered Hart. “I was a recreational smoker. I never smoked full-time and shouldn’t have smoked at all. But I also work with chemicals because I’m a hairdresser.”

No one could tell her what caused lung cancer in such a young woman with a limited smoking history.