 |
| Am I on to something? Call me, Sanrio! |
In 2012, just over 314 million dollars was spent by the National Cancer Institute for lung cancer. Twice as much money was poured into breast cancer research despite the fact that lung cancer is the U.S.’s top cancer killer, claiming approximately 160,000 lives per year. It is a devastating disease that can afflict anyone, regardless of smoking history, gender, or ethnicity. One in 14 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer, and it kills more people than colorectal, breast and pancreatic cancers combined. (Source: Lungevity, Cancer.gov)
So let's try and level the playing field, shall we? Lung cancer is often found by sheer luck. They found mine because I'd complained of a pain in my calf, which ended up being a blood clot in my leg (that I rode a 150 mile, two-day bicycle tour on). The hospital performed a CT scan of my lungs to check for clots and found "too many to count" along with an "unknown mass" on my right lung. If you're reading this and you have lung cancer, feel free to share your story about how it was discovered for you.
In my case, most doctors probably would never have considered a relatively healthy, active and non-smoking individual to have lung cancer. Lung cancer doesn't really have too many symptoms in the early stages, so you don't start seeing signs until it's more advanced.
A lot of times, as I'm sitting in a doctor's office, laying in an MRI tube or just standing in the shower I think to myself... "Is this really my life?" and it's not even in a melancholy way - it's just that you never, ever imagine that it could happen to you. The reality is, this can happen to anyone. As easy as it is for some to dismiss lung cancer as a smoker's disease - it's truthfully not. The very air you are exposed to on your bike, in your car - anywhere at all, can raise your risk for lung cancer. But you don't stop going outside, you don't hold your breath until you collapse, you must keep living...
But we need to understand lung cancer better, and we need to research ways to find out how to cure it. If it really kills upwards of 160,000 annually - which would basically be as if you wiped out the entire population of Pasadena, California every single year... Isn't it time to take notice? I'm asking all of you - please, please do not wait for a friend or family member to get cancer before you start caring about it. Lung cancer isn't sexy, there's no way to make it more fun or pretty to make it more marketable. I'm jealous that the breast cancer awareness movement has that going for it. Breasts can be sexy. Pink is a darling of a color. Boobies, ta-tas... Call them whatever, just stick it on a mug with a pretty font and people will buy it.
If it will get you to donate money for lung cancer research, I'll make you a t-shirt. I'll even sell it to you for a fair price. I won't profit a dime, I just want the money to go to where it needs to be. I'll make buttons. Whatever it takes.
Ellen DeGeneres, I love your show and I love the compassion you show to your guests. You seem to be such a genuinely kind person, which is why I'm reaching out to you here and on Twitter. I want people to know that lung cancer is very real among people who are young, active, and otherwise perfectly healthy. I want people to know that however you came to have cancer, it doesn't matter. You deserve love. You deserve a cure, and you deserve a life. You have the gift of a large audience who loves you and will listen, I want that podium just for a day - just for 10 minutes, to be able to tell people how important this is to me.
Please, let me share your spotlight.
#Cheer4Cara
Yes! Ellen, my niece is the most awesome girl ever! She invented the words positive attitude. She has family and so many friends who love her and are inspired by her, even as she fights lung cancer, she encourages us.
ReplyDelete