Lung Cancer: The Number One Killer of Women

Three years ago my daughter Jessie was just starting her college career and Yoko and I were beginning a new life as “empty nesters.” We made plans to travel. Labor Day weekend 2007 we went to visit friends in New Mexico. I remember having had a cough that would not go away, but I was convinced it was allergies. Little did I know that less than a month later I would be diagnosed with lung cancer.

Next week will mark the third anniversary of my Stage IIIA lung cancer diagnosis. My cancer was discovered in an x-ray by my primary care physician. I remember my wife asking me what the doctor had to say about my cough after coming home from my annual physical. Not yet having the test results, I jokingly told her I had lung cancer; the very next day I learned the joke was on me.

Like anyone diagnosed with cancer, my life changed that day and it will never be the same. But I did not want the remainder of my life to now be about cancer treatments and declining health. I determined to accommodate the necessary treatments, whatever came, but not be ruled by them.

For example, I did not want to make changes to our “empty nester” travel plans. Yoko and I went to visit my sister in Houston the weekend following my first round of chemo. A few weeks later, I went to radiation in the morning followed by chemo until mid-afternoon. That same day we drove to Tallahassee to see Jessie and attend a Saturday afternoon FSU football game. I wore one of those crazy garnet wigs to the game and attributed my new hair color and out of control hair style to the radiation treatments.

In those early days I was hoping to be able to attend Paula’s wedding, but I didn’t think I would live long enough to see Jessie’s college graduation. Three years later, I am enjoying good health and looking forward to the future. Oldest daughter Paula, who is now married, is having a baby boy in February. My baby girl, Jessie, will graduate college in May.

Cancer never leaves you. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about having this disease. It’s incorporated into my life. It’s part of who I am and what I do. I have added surviving inoperable lung cancer to my greatest accomplishments, which include mastering the Japanese language, getting Yoko to marry me, and raising and educating my three beautiful girls. These past three years of living with cancer have been some of the most fulfilling years of my life. There is still more I want to do.

October is breast cancer awareness month. The entire country will, once again, be plastered with pink thanks to the efforts of breast cancer advocates. Mark my words: women, not men, will find the cure for cancer.

I’ve been jealous of the attention paid to breast cancer while lung cancer – the number one cancer killer of women -- is practically ignored. Lung cancer remains in the shadows and on the back burner when it comes to research. No one knows why a young woman, like my friend and fellow advocate, Melissa Petersen, is suddenly cut down by lung cancer. Melissa was in the prime of her life with two small children and no history of smoking. She, like many others, believed that hormonal changes during pregnancy may have had something to do with her developing the disease.

The National Lung Cancer Partnership suggested I attend the National Breast Cancer Coalition’s LEADS workshop in Minneapolis this weekend. The three-day conference will bring breast cancer advocates together to learn about the latest developments in cancer research. There’s a lot I can learn from breast cancer advocates. I hope to teach them to “look deeper” too.