The first ever actuarial analysis of lung cancer mortality, published today in Population Health Management Journal,  provides strong evidence that earlier detection could reduce the number of late stage lung cancer deaths by over 70,000 people each year in the US.

Calling the number “profound,” Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) President Laurie Fenton-Ambrose said, “This would be the equivalent of eliminating all deaths from breast and prostate cancer each year.  It clearly demonstrates why we must make research and development of earlier detection tools for lung cancer a public health priority.”

A SPECIALLY brewed ale to support 15 former Wales captains in their quest to reach the roof of Africa will go on sale in supermarkets this week.

The Up and Over Brains ale will be sold at Welsh Tesco Extras and superstores with 15p from every bottle going towards the £1m Brains SA Captains Climb appeal.

Former captains Ieuan Evans, Rob Jones, Gareth Thomas, Jonathan Humphreys and Bleddyn Bowen spent yesterday evening packing customers’ shopping bags as they launched the beer at the Tesco Talbot Green store.

… Up and Over was created by some of the team members who will climb Kilimanjaro in September to raise money for lung cancer research and awareness in Wales.

One of the more inspiring parts of the ING Miami Marathon on Sunday came five hours after the start, when 4,000 middle-school children ran the final mile as part of the ING Run for Something Better program.

… It was an emotional race for Cydney Greech, 43, and her husband, Ron, of Colorado Springs, Colo. Cydney raised $1,000 for cancer awareness and ran the marathon, her first, as a tribute to her mother, who is dying of lung cancer.

Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) announced today that Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Senator (R-NE) and current co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, has become the first member of  LCA’s new Honorary Board.

“This is a great honor and privilege for Lung Cancer Alliance,” said Laurie Fenton Ambrose, LCA President & CEO.  ”We established the Honorary Board in order to thank those who have taken strong public positions on the need to change public health policy and increase research funding for all aspects of lung cancer.”

Lung cancer, the nation’s leading cause of cancer deaths for women and men, remains the most under-funded, under-researched and under-supported cancer. There are currently no approved early detection tests for lung cancer. With a 5-year survival rate of only 15%, the prognosis for lung cancer has not changed in 40 years. A new organization, Lung Cancer Foundation of America (LCFA) is trying to change this reality, and save lives by dramatically increasing the five-year survival rate for all stages of lung cancer. LCFA will accomplish this by providing the necessary and critical funding for creative and leading edge lung cancer research programs.

Today, the United States Congress approved an additional $15 million in research funding for lung cancer as part of the fiscal year 2010 Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations package. This brings the total to $35 million that Congress has appropriated to date for the new program since it was launched in October of last year. The bill will now be sent to the President for signature.

Lung cancer kills more people than breast cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer and skin cancer combined, and it is the most common cause of cancer death.

In partnership with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, the American Association for Cancer Research will host the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer, which will bring together leaders from all over the world who share the goal of eradicating this form of cancer.

Kentucky ranks 40th among states in the amount of money it spends to persuade people to quit or never start smoking, according to a report released Wednesday by anti-smoking groups.

Health advocates in Kentucky have been pushing the legislature to increase funding for tobacco cessation programs and to allocate about $1.5 million to fund a 2007 law that would allow the state’s Medicaid program to pay for smoking cessation aids, such as nicotine patches.

Lung cancer symptoms are very elusive and misleading. Mostly the condition is diagnosed only after having reached advanced stages. As of now there is no screening procedure for lung cancer. Symptoms are almost non existent where lung cancer is concerned.

There might be a mild cough or shortness of breath that can also be attributed to some respiratory infections. This is the main reason as to why most of the lung cancer cases go undiagnosed in the early stages. Only a meagre 16% of the cases are diagnosed early enough to facilitate treatment and cure.

Chris Tate of Pasco wanted his first tattoo to mean something.

That’s why on Saturday he waited at Asylum Tattoo in Pasco to receive a cancer ribbon tattoo with the colors representing the cancers that have affected his life — orange for leukemia, which he survived at age 3, and blue for colon cancer, which his grandmother died from in March.

Asylum Tattoo offered free cancer ribbon tattoos Saturday to provide cancer awareness and to raise money for the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation. A box was put out for donations.