No One Deserves Lung Cancer

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Before my dad's diagnosis, I was like so many other women – worrying more about breast cancer than anything else. When my dad began his battle, I searched for lung cancer groups to join, walks to take or petitions to sign. There were none. There wasn’t the clear-cut support and outright sympathy that, it seems, other cancer patients often get from those beyond their inner circle of friends and family. There are really no celebrity advocates for lung cancer either, because, to be frank, they don't survive long enough to become advocates. And I believe lung cancer's "smoker's disease" stigma somehow makes it less appealing, and perhaps not glamorous enough, to fight for.

My dad, however, fought lung cancer as hard as he could, through surgery and chemotherapy, and more surgery and more chemotherapy and then radiation. He tried a relatively new drug towards the end, which didn't work, and spent his last month at home, surrounded by friends and family.

He left behind a wife, a sister, two children, and a granddaughter, my daughter--who at the time was less than four months old.

Together, we tried everything. But I find it incredibly sad to think about what the doctors might have done for him if they had the research dollars lung cancer so rightfully deserves, but is so often denied. Lung cancer is the deadliest of all cancers, and it lacks the early screening and life-saving treatments patients so desperately need. The newest lung cancer drugs, which have been lauded for their success, increase life expectancy by just a couple of months on average.

The National Cancer Institute spent about $1,740 per lung cancer death in 2003, compared with $13,649 per breast cancer death.

Think about that.

Although the NCI has recently committed new funding to lung cancer, partly in light of the recent news about Reeve and ABC anchor Peter Jennings, lung cancer remains the ugly stepsister of cancer advocacy--hidden away in an attic, without attention or care.

So, now, it's up to us--the survivors, the caregivers, the friends and relatives, and anyone else who is willing to take up the fight. I was always my daddy's little girl, even after I had a home and family of my own. Now, I need to walk forward without him – and that's an incredibly difficult road. But with every step I take, I can hope there may be one fewer daughter who has to live without her father, and one more granddaughter who can grow up to know her grandfather.

Smoker or not, no one deserves to get lung cancer. But anyone can. Once we realize that, maybe, just maybe, lung cancer survivors will get the attention, care and respect they do deserve. Then, perhaps, the funding, the screening, the treatments and even a cure, will follow.