Giving Thanks to All

I haven’t had a chance to say THANK YOU to everyone that supported our efforts this year to raise lung cancer awareness and promote screening and early detection.  Right after the November 7^th 5K Run/Walk, Yoko and I went on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas'. When we got back, I took off for a weekend in Columbus Ohio to reunite with college friends.   After that came Thanksgiving. We visited Orlando to see two of our daughters and share the weekend with their families. Yes, I have been in “go mode” pretty much non-stop since the race, so I’ve had no time to write!

I still don’t have a final accounting, but as of this date I think our 5K Run/Walk raised something on the order of $55,000 and netted $30,000 thanks to the support of our sponsors, 38 fundraising teams and our 50 volunteers!  Every cent we raise helps the cause of promoting lung cancer screening and early detection in order to reduce lung cancer mortality and save or extend lives. 

The Lung Cancer Research Council had a few small but exciting successes in 2015.  We partnered with The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) to produce the Non-Small Cell Patient Guide, which is now being distributed nationally.  Our next project with NCCN for early 2016 is to sponsor their Lung Cancer Screening Guidelines for Physicians, which will also be distributed throughout the country. NCCN is the world’s foremost leader in producing screening guidelines.

I recently had lunch with the CEOs of both Millennium and Fawcett Memorial Hospital to talk about what more we could do to increase lung cancer screening here in Charlotte County.   Millennium has now has built lung cancer screening questions into their electronic medical records and has installed low-dose CT equipment in several locations, including Port Charlotte and Naples.  The group is expected to be up-and running to schedule patient screenings this week. Please speak with your Millennium Group Physician about getting screened.

The question that arises next is, what happens if you get screened and a nodule is found?  What are the next steps that need to be taken?  Once cancer is found, someone needs to be quarterbacking care, since a lung cancer diagnosis will frequently involve many specialist physicians, including oncologists, radiologists, pulmonologists, radiology oncologists, surgeons, cardiologists, endocrinologists, etc.  Cancer centers, like Moffitt, generally have better outcomes for patients because they provide coordinated care.  Unfortunately, cancer centers are hard to access. What we want to create in Charlotte County is virtual coordinated care.    Millennium Physicians Group has a newly employed nurse navigator for just this purpose.  What we’ve been talking about with Millennium, Fawcett, and Florida Cancer Specialists is how to expand coordinated care throughout Charlotte County to improve patient outcomes.  I hope I’ll have more to say about this as we enter the New Year.  Suffice it to say, we are making progress and I am hopeful that more people are going to survive lung cancer in the future.

I read an article not too long ago where Goldman Sachs is predicting  that mortality from all cancers will be greatly reduced in the future thanks to cloud computing.  The results of genetic testing on tumors is being shared via the internet with an ever expanding database of patients. The result is that, more and more, figuring out what drugs will work for a given cancer is no longer going to be a just guessing game. Database evidence and highly personalized cancer care holds the promise of our finally making the progress in the War on Cancer we had hoped for when the effort was started back in 1971.

A good friend of mine came to the office a month ago and handed me a small leather-bound book he had purchased as a gift for me called “A Focused Life.”  The book is composed of 30 chapters intended to be read as a daily devotional over the course of thirty days.  I have been faithfully reading a chapter each day and praying for all those I love. Call it a coincidence, but one of the people for whom I say a daily prayer is my friend Marc Cohen.  Marc has been valiantly battling Stage IV lung cancer now for four years.  He shared with me this week that he is officially in remission. Praise God!

I also received a today message from a total stranger, Nell Yang, who lives in California. Nell was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer recently, after having survived a Stage I-B diagnosis back in 2011.  She writes: Had I read your book back in 2011, I would have done things quite differently. I am re-reading your book and now hanging on every word.”

Proverbs 1:33 says “But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.” I pray all my readers have a Merry Christmas and good health and happiness in the New Year!

Ideas for Creating Awareness

Saturday November 7th is the SWFL Lung Cancer Run/Walk and Mile of Memories Memorial Walk, commemorating the start of Lung Cancer Awareness Month.  I’ve worked hard all year to make this race the biggest event it can be, but as of this writing, it may turn out to be the smallest event since I started running this race in 2009.  If you are reading this story, please come out to show your support, even if it is just to be there for the 30 minute rally at the end of the race (around 9:30 AM).

We’ve had a relatively small group of walkers and runners pre-register for the event, compared to years gone by. It’s discouraging, especially since we have a large e-mail distribution list with the names of people who have participated in the past.  I’m not sure I know why paid registrations are so low. Maybe people are just tired of running and are looking for something different to do?

I had a series of live interviews with Wink TV this morning and the interviewer, John Trierweiler, suggested that we should to do is organize a race to the top of a tall building, like they do in Chicago.  Only one problem; in Charlotte County we don’t have tall buildings.

There is an event called “Shine a Light on Lung Cancer” where advocates in Boston get building owners and tenants to leave their lights on overnight in the shape of a ribbon. It’s another good idea, but, again, we don’t have the buildings to do it. Maybe someone at Cheney Bros. new distribution facility who reads this column, could suggest to management that they project a giant white ribbon on their new building so people driving up and down I75 can see it at night?  That could help shine a light on lung cancer. How about it Cheney Brothers?

I don’t know who to talk to at the Punta Gorda Post Office, but management there needs to know that I noticed the store front was decked out in pink the entire month of October. I wonder what the Punta Gorda Post Office going to do for women with lung cancer in November? If you stop in there this month, please ask.

I know the White House was lit up in pink in October.  Since pearl white is the color of lung cancer and the White House is already lit up white all year long, could we just declare the White House to be the “Lung Cancer White” House in November?  I’m sure some creative mind in Washington D.C. could come up with something to recognize lung cancer awareness month.

Last year at this time I went to the NY Stock Exchange with the hopes of ringing the opening bell. There was a chance we could have done that, had we not gotten bumped by an IPO.  Oh well, at least Yoko and I got to see the Book of Mormon on Broadway and have some excellent meals.

Since we are having poor participation at the annual race this year, I’ve been thinking of other ways to make a statement.  One idea was to create 460 cardboard angels to sit in the stands.  These would represent the number of people we lost to lung cancer in Charlotte County this year alone. I wish I had thought of this eight years ago.  By now we could fill the stadium with those unnamed angels. 

I saw an article in the newspaper about a grieving husband suing R.J. Reynolds here in Charlotte County claiming tobacco products caused the death of his wife. The verdict assigned the wife 98% blame for causing her own death by smoking. The plaintiff was awarded $5000. That verdict pretty well sums up people’s attitude. Didn’t the jury know that R.J. Reynolds had purposely made their products more addictive?  I called Morgan and Morgan this week to see if I could bring my own lawsuit, but they turned me down flat.  I explained that I don’t want the money, just the publicity.

Anyway, as you can tell, I am raging an uphill battle. Right now it feels like I am not winning.  But it doesn’t matter.  If I am unable to light a fire under people to care passionately about this issue, so be it.  People’s indifference won’t deter me from trying, because I know in my heart that what I am trying to do does matter. 

If you want to join me to make a difference, wear a white ribbon on your lapel this month and let people know you support the fight against lung cancer. Thank you for your support!

One Day at a Time

I’ve been campaigning as a lung cancer advocate since 2009, when I organized a run/walk to raise awareness during November, which is lung cancer awareness month.  That first race was a great success, raising over $50,000 in just one day.  This year I will organize my seventh race and hope to raise $70,000 when all is said and done. In the first four years the money raised by the race was used to support the National Lung Cancer Partnership’s program to fund lung cancer research by young investigators.  In the last three years, we have used the race to fund my charity’s programs to raise awareness and promote screening and early detection.

Lung cancer screening using low-dose CT scan is now accepted medical protocol. Our mission is to make sure that people most at risk of developing lung cancer (former smokers and current smokers over the age of 55) are aware of the need to get an annual screening.

Putting on a race is a big undertaking that requires a lot of effort, day by day, all year long. We’ve been working on a new and improved website since January. The website is designed to be a resource for anyone diagnosed with lung cancer. Check it out at www.lungcancerresearchcouncil.org .

Under the tab “Support/Resources” you will find a link to the newly revised NCCN Patient Guide for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, sponsored by The Lung Cancer Research Council and Lung Cancer Alliance. The Guide is free and provides 122 pages of essential information about lung cancer that every newly diagnosed patient and caregiver needs to know, including what lung cancer is, how it is staged, treatment options, and making treatment decisions.  I would have been glad to have this resource when I was diagnosed. Copies of the guide is also available in print at Amazon.com.

What we are doing is a lot of effort and expense and I’ve sometimes wondered if we are making any difference. I am learning that, in fact, our efforts are beginning to make difference, albeit on a small scale.   

I received a letter by e-mail not too long ago from woman thanking me for alerting smokers and former smokers over the age of 55 about getting an annual screening for lung cancer. The column I wrote last year inspired her to get screened, which resulted in her finding early stage lung cancer last December at the age 72.  Thankfully, because it was found early, she was a candidate to have the cancer surgically removed and now has a good prognosis for living a much longer life.  It only takes something over 300 screenings of high risk individuals to find one lung cancer. By comparison, you need to screen 1000 women to find one breast cancer. The trick is getting the people at risk educated to act. By the time you become symptomatic it may be too late!

Last week I went on Facebook to promote our November 7^th run/walk and discovered 15 messages, some more than a year old, from people I did not know. I had no idea that complete strangers were trying to reach me by messenger on Facebook to talk about their lung cancer diagnosis.  One message was from a 9/11 NYC fireman’s cousin, looking for some hope. She had found my book “Living with Lung Cancer – My Journey” and wanted me to speak with her fireman cousin to give him hope. Unfortunately, by the time I responded, her cousin Chris had already passed.  

In another message, a woman from Boston reached out to me to tell me she was writing a lung cancer book of her own. She wanted tips on getting published so this weekend we spoke by phone.  I learned that she is a 50 year old single mother of two who never smoked.  She was diagnosed four years ago, at the age of 46, with Stage II lung cancer.  Tragically, she lost her husband in a car accident the year after she was diagnosed. She was formally a financial advisor and quit her very good paying job to be a stay at home mom.  Now she is struggling to get back on her feet financially.  She called me to thank me for giving her hope and offered to help The Lung Cancer Research Council get started in Boston.  That gave me hope this week, that we are, indeed, making progress, day by day, one day at a time.

60th Birthday Bash

It’s official.  I am now over the age of 60 and racing toward the last and best (I hope) years of my life. Yoko and I spent a very special birthday weekend at my sister’s new home outside of Philadelphia. I want to share with you some of what we did.

We left from Ft. Myers on Wednesday evening and arrived in Philadelphia around mid-night.  My daughter June, who lives in Hawaii, was waiting at the airport hotel when we arrived!  June’s joining the festivities was supposed to be a surprise, but my sister, Jane, let the cat out of the bag when she texted me asking when June would be arriving! Up to that point I had no idea that my daughter would be coming to spend the weekend! She had been in Seattle on business and decided to fly to Philly to join the celebration. God bless!  What a nice thing to do!

On Thursday morning we drove to the gravesite of my mother and father, who are interned at Whitemarsh Memorial Cemetery, in Horsham. It was the first time for me to visit both my Mom and Dad at the cemetery, so it was a tearful reunion. Dad died at the age of 76 in 2002 and Mom passed away at 90 years of age in 2014. I think about my parents every day and the sacrifices they made to raise five children.  If they were still alive, I would thank them for everything they did and let them know how much I loved them. They will always be with me in my heart.

After an emotional visit to the cemetery, we drove a nostalgic tour of the area where I grew up.  I made arrangements to see my other set of parents, Victor and Eileen Friscia, who are now in their 80’s and in failing health. I have been a close friend of their daughter since high school.  I was so close to Vic and Eileen that I considered them to be my alternate parents. I always addressed them as Mom and Dad Friscia. Their bodies are now failing, but thankfully, their minds are as sharp as ever, so we had an enjoyable visit. They were in their 40s when I first knew them and they are still in the same house 49 years later! I hope I am doing as well just 20 years from now.

I dropped Yoko and June off at Starbucks, so I could attend a meeting with NCCN (The National Comprehensive Cancer Network) based in Ft. Washington, PA.  It turns out the NCCN’s headquarters is just down the street from where my Dad worked! I consider it a God wink that, here I am, 40 years later, meeting with an important cancer organization about promoting lung cancer screening and early detection after having just left Mom and Dad Friscia who warned me about the dangers of smoking when I was in high school!  Talk about full circle!

I woke up at 5 AM Friday morning to a vibrating phone and Facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday!  The messages came pouring in from all over the world literally all day long, from people I have not seen or heard from in a very long time.  It made me realize of how many friends I have made in the many places I have lived over the years. It was nice to know so many people bothered to send a “1” for Happy Birthday, or took time to send a short personal message.

The highlight of the trip, however, was dinner Friday night, hosted by my two sisters and their husbands and including myself, Yoko and June.  We ate at R2L, a high-end restaurant on the 37^th floor of a Philadelphia skyscraper overlooking the city.  We ate and laughed and toasted throughout the night.  At the end of the evening, after desert was served, I was surprised by my daughter June who presented me a bag full of small gifts numbered one thru nine.  These were accompanied by a letter from all three of my daughters who had written nine paragraphs about things they learned from me over their collective 90 years. I was instructed to read the letter one paragraph at a time and then open the accompanying gift. 

It was the most thoughtful idea for a gift I have ever received from my children. I was choked with emotion and practically speechless as I read their touching letter.  It is every father’s dream to have children who appreciate them. To know they do so while I am lucky enough to still be alive is extra special and very poignant.

Doing What's Right, Not What's Popular

I went to a Catholic elementary school and I remember Sister Sylvester telling me that if I wanted to know the difference between right and wrong, all I need do is ask myself if I would do it or say it in front of my mother.  Needless to say, she made an impression, and that advice kept me out of trouble for a long time. (It’s a wonder I ever had three children!)

As time has gone on I’ve come to see many things in this world that I identify as wrong or immoral. The marketing of deadly cigarettes to minors is just one example.  I want to say something or propose a solution, but whatever I say, there will be opposition, especially if it involves people’s livelihood. 

Change only happens when you win over hearts and you come to a tipping point. That’s not an easy thing to achieve. People resist change, human nature being what it is.  It took gay rights advocates decades of advocacy to get where they are today.

I thought Pope Francis’s recent visit to the U.S. and his advocacy for the poor was inspiring, I only wish more people were like him, striving for humility and teaching by example.  Unfortunately, a personage like the Pope is a rarity. 

I’m a realist.  I understand why our country’s founders worried about self-government. People can’t be trusted to just do what is right.  It’s why we have a system of checks and balances and the separation of power in government.

In the field of medicine, profit should never be the motive in treating patients.  That would be wrong. Yet, I know we would never make any progress in improving medicine if there were not some profit incentive in the healthcare system. I would not begrudge my oncologist a penny, provided that he or she was recommending a course of treatment that was necessary. I do, however, take exception to the inexplicably high prices of life-saving drugs.

The most egregious case recently was Turing Pharmaceutical’s purchase of the drug Daraprim, the only medication for treating toxoplasmosis, an infection that can cause birth defects.  It’s a drug also used in combination with other drugs for HIV infections, cancer and malaria.  Turing purchased the decades old drug and increased the price from $13.5 to $750 a tablet – a 5000 percent increase!  Not surprisingly, it turns out that Turing’s CEO, Martin Shkreli, is a former hedge-fund manager.  Greed like this makes me want to bring back tar and feathers. It’s just plainly wrong.

This month is breast cancer awareness month. It goes without saying that I am very sympathetic to women who have breast cancer or any cancer, for that matter.  It seems to me, however, that corporate support of breast cancer awareness is over the top.  Pink is everywhere in the month of October. You have to ask why the campaign is so successful?

Breast cancer advocates should be congratulated for coming up with such a blockbuster idea to raise awareness. Enlisting corporate sponsors is both profitable and effective.  For the corporate sponsor, being a supporter and putting a pink ribbon on something you’re selling helps sell the product.  Corporations are not being altruistic when it comes to supporting breast cancer, they are acting in their own self-interest and marketing to a powerful consumer group – women.

I am getting ready for the SW Florida Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk and Mile of Memories walk scheduled for Charlotte Sports Park on November 7^th.  I am hoping we are going to have a record-breaking crowd attending the event, but I expect to be disappointed.

For years I dreamed of filling the 5,000 seat stadium with lung cancer supporters.  Every year I despair that we get a turnout of less than 1000 people.  The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure at Coconut Point attracts nearly 10,000 runners and walkers and raises $1 million annually in funding.

Lung cancer kills roughly 35,000 Floridians every year. In Charlotte County alone it is estimated that we lost 460 people to lung cancer last year. Victims of lung cancer are fighting for their life; they are not available to serve on a fundraising committee or walk or run in a race.  They are certainly not a consumer group that has much marketing merit for corporate sponsors.

I haven’t found a way light a fire under people.  But I know the difference between right and wrong and I know that advocating for lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death, is right, even if it is not popular.

 

Beating the Odds

I manage other people’s money for a living, so I know a thing or two about risk and statistical measures.  If I were a betting man, I would have bet against my living eight years after getting a diagnosis of late stage lung cancer. But, here I am, against all odds. 

I got my annual surveillance scan results this week and I am pleased to report that I am still NED (no evidence of disease). Dr. Thomas Fabian at Advanced Imaging has been one of my doctors from the beginning.  When I finished my scan this week, he was waiting at the door for me as I emerged from the exam room.  He guided me to his office to immediately review the results. I think he may have been as anxious to know the outcome as I was.  After all, he has eight years invested in my case.  
Together we looked at a comparison of this year’s scan to last year’s. Dr. Fabian reviews these detailed images like he is looking through a digital family photo album. For a layman with no medical training I cannot really see very much.  Dr. Fabian pointed out what he was looking at: “Here is the top of your heart….this is your lungs, here is where the tumor was, you can see the scarring from the radiation there…your liver is clean…nothing remarkable.” After a few minutes reviewing the all the images, Dr. Fabian told me that “Everything looks good.”  Those are words every cancer patient wants to hear.

As I was leaving I thanked Dr. Fabian and asked him how many patients he has known with my stage of disease still around eight years later. His answer was “Not many. You are definitely in the 5%.”  I also asked him if he has seen any uptick in lung cancer screenings.  Sadly the answer was also “no, not many.” If you are or were a smoker and you are 55 or older, don’t put it off.  Get screened!

I’ve been talking about the 16% five year survival rate for lung cancer in this column for many years.  But the reality is that 16% is an AVERAGE five year survival rate from date of diagnosis. That data could be parsed into survival rates based on stage of disease.  Stage I and II survivors would be the largest group, followed by Stage III and Stage IV, who naturally have lower survivorship rates.  If you took all lung cancer cases and put them in a graph with number of people diagnosed on the vertical axis and time to death from date of diagnosis on the horizontal axis, you would find that it forms a downwardly sloping curve.  By the time you got to 5 years on the time scale, 84% of the patients diagnosed would have died. The people who survive beyond the five year mark are the outliers.  As you move farther and farther to the right on the curve, the survivorship declines until 95% of the patients you started with are gone. I am one of the lucky ones in that is in the remaining 5%.

Most of the people diagnosed with lung cancer 8 years ago are now gone  As a survivor, I feel it is incumbent upon me to do what I can to honor them, remember them, and do something to increase survivorship.  If you would like to honor and remember someone you loved who died of lung cancer, make a memorial sign for them to be displayed at the SW Florida Run Walk November 7^th. Get your sign made today at www.lcrcinc.org .

Any discussion about the cancer statistics and death rates should include a caution: people are not statistics.  Every case is different and no one can tell you with certainty what the outcome of your case will be. Scientists love to use statistical measures to predict outcomes, but there are many factors that influence outcomes.  The more complex the problem, the more unreliable predictions will be. Cancer is about as complicated as anything in life.   The factors that influence the outcomes of cancer cases are as numerous as there are patients. Since no two people are alike, so no two cases are alike.  As I said at the beginning, based on statistics, I would have bet against me being alive today. The odds were against me. It turns out I would have lost that bet.  And as they say in golf, I’d rather be lucky than good!

 

 

 

Get on Your Marks to Help!

This is the time of year when I start to get anxious.  October 5^th will mark the 8^th anniversary since I was diagnosed with inoperable Stage IIIA Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.  This week I get my annual surveillance blood test and CT scan to see if I am still cancer free. I call this annual anxious feeling around scan time “scanxiety.”  It is always an unsettling time of year for me.

Except for some neuropathy in my feet (an after-effect of platinum-based chemotherapy) I feel fine, but I’ve learned my lesson. I now know that I could have a tumor in my lung and not know it. (You have no nerve endings in your lung, so you might have a tumor and never feel it before it’s too late!)  Surveillance is the only way to be sure I remain cancer free.  If you are a smoker or former smoker or someone who has been extensively exposed to second-hand smoke, annual surveillance could be right for you too!

In January 2013 I decided to focus my advocacy efforts on promoting lung cancer screening and early detection, which I believe is the most direct way to save and extend lives.  I launched the Lung Cancer Research Council Inc. as a 501(c) 3 non-profit. My philosophy, unlike other cancer charities, has been to have no fixed overhead or paid personnel. We have low operational cost and devote every dollar raised to the mission of promoting lung cancer awareness, screening and early detection. If I can succeed by raising program funding using nothing but volunteers, then I know the community at large believes in what I am doing.

I have to say, my timing could not have been better. In December of 2013 the US Preventative Services Task Force endorsed low-dose CT scan as an evidence based screening protocol, which made lung cancer screening available for the first time to anyone age 55 and older who had a 30 pack-year history of smoking or quit smoking less than 15 years ago.  That endorsement was followed by Medicare and Medicaid also accepting and reimbursing low-dose CT as an evidence-based protocol for lung cancer screening.

If you are someone who fits the screening profile and have private insurance or are on Medicare of Medicaid, you are entitled to get an annual screening without paying any deductible or co-pay. I urge anyone who is a former smoker to get screened every year and share this article with anyone you know who should be screened. Screening save lives.

The other reason I always get anxious at this time of year is all the work I have to do to get ready for the SW Florida Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk and Mile of Memories Walk scheduled this year for November 7^th.   November is lung cancer awareness month, and I get anxious because I really need a lot of help to run this annual event.

 We’ve been working hard to make our website easier to navigate and to sign up to run or walk in our annual race or create an online fundraising team. If you have not done so already, check out our re-designed website at www.lungcancerresearchcouncil.org  My goal this year is to have 1,000 or more people at our November 7^th race, but I want to emphasize, you don’t have to run or walk, or even be there to participate!

Anyone who wants to help can create an online fundraising team on our website and then share their online team website through social media. This will help spread the word about our efforts as well as help us raise funding. Check out our website or our Facebook page and share it with people you know!

Every year we put out memorial signs to remember the people who died from lung cancer. Sadly, 158,000 die every year. There are voiceless millions in America who would be advocating for lung cancer had they survived their battle with the disease. The Mile of Memories Walk is to honor those we have lost.  If you know someone who has lost their life to lung cancer, you can submit their name and memorialize them at the Mile of Memories Walk.  To have a sign made for a friend or loved one, visit the Lung Cancer Research Council’s website.

Finally, I must recognize the caring and generosity of our presenting sponsor, South Florida Ford, as well as our other major sponsors, including Florida Cancer Specialists, Morgan Stanley, McDonnell Dermatology, Truly Nolen, CeJay Associates, Buffalo Graffix, Florida Weekly, Sun Newspapers, Marketing Arm International, Pulmonary Sleep and Critical Care Specialists, and the Farr Law Firm.  We could not hold our race without these sponsors, so please patronize these companies and thank them for what they are doing to help raise lung cancer awareness!

If you or your business would like to be a sponsor, make a donation, or volunteer to help at this year’s race, please contact me at tcappiello@np.zypha.com or visit The Lung Cancer Research Council website at www.lcrcinc.org .

Now get on your marks, get set, and go help raise awareness and funding for the leading cause of cancer death in America!

God's Country

Yoko and I made a trip to Maine this week to get out of the Florida heat. We’d been planning this trip for a year. Unfortunately, we were too early in the fall season to see the changing leaves, but it was still nice to get away for a long weekend. We "won" this stay in a lakeside cabin in Maine at The Peace River Rotary’s Charity Games’ last September. We'd never been to Maine, so we took the opportunity to be the highest bidder!

We flew directly from St. Pete to Bangor and drove a few hours from there to Moosehead Lake. Along the way we could not help but notice that nearly every home proudly displayed the American flag, even though there was no national holiday to celebrate. The people who live in Maine are not only Patriot fans, but proud American patriots, which was heartwarming to see.

There were many white steeple churches along the way. Every once in a while we passed a roadside sign warning us to be respectful of "God's Country". The route took us past iconic covered bridges, rolls of hay in fallow fields, and scenes of natural beauty in every direction.    

When we got to our destination we took a seaplane tour of the Moosehead Lake region. Our pilot guide told us that the word "moose" is an Indian word for God. The lake is named for the surrounding mountains, which form the silhouette of a moose head. We were surely in God's country. And although I did not see a single moose on our visit, He was everywhere.

The lakeside cabin where we stayed had no electricity and was five miles down a dirt road, about 30 miles from the nearest town. On a moonless night it was so dark that you could not see your hand in front of your face. But what a spectacular view of the stars in heaven! In the cool morning air, just before dawn, I awoke to the sound of loons, softly cooing. In just a single night I felt at peace and thanked God to still be alive.

From Moosehead Lake we went to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. Maine’s shoreline is majestic and the forest is spectacular.  We drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain and took in a magnificent vista from every direction. Maine truly is God’s Country. In no church did I ever feel closer to our creator.

So what does a weekend trip to God’s Country have to do with good health and surviving a cancer diagnosis? The first thing is that such a trip is a reminder of why we live, which is to serve God our creator. It’s also a reminder of the importance of getting fresh air and exercise. I had to lug a canoe down to the lake and then lug in back to storage. Getting it down to the lake was fairly easy; getting it back to storage was something of a struggle. As I have damaged lung capacity, I became winded dragging the heavy boat uphill.

Thankfully, I didn’t pass out because had just taken a lesson on how to catch my breath from Denise, a respiratory therapist at Port Charlotte Rehabilitation Center. Denise was our speaker at the last Lung Cancer Support Group meeting last week. (If you would like to attend our support group, we meet every second Tuesday of the month from 2 PM at Bayfront Punta Gorda Medical Building 4^th Floor; or every third Wednesday from 2 PM at Sarasota Memorial on Toledo Blade.)

Being in God’s Country gave me some time to reflect about what comes next for me and my life. I turn 60 in October. I plan to retire in five short years. Then what? 

My wife asked me what I want for my birthday and the answer is that there is nothing in this world that I need more than her love and the love of my family and friends. I’m just grateful God has allowed me to reach another birthday milestone.

At this stage of my life, what I want is to help others in their journey to live a long and happy life. I think that is God’s calling for me. If you would like to help me on my mission to save and extend lives, you can start by helping me with the Lung Cancer 5K Run/Walk. Create an online team to raise funds, volunteer to help, or register to run or walk on November 7^th.

Registration is now open at www.lungcancerresearchcouncil.org

 

 

Access, Value and Cost of Cancer Care

On Friday, September 11th I attended a conference in Washington D.C. hosted by NCCN (The National Comprehensive Cancer Network), which is an educational body representing a group of 25 NCI designated comprehensive cancer centers. The mission of the NCCN is "to advance the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of oncology care so that patients can live better lives." The main activity of the organization is the development and publication of practice guidelines for oncology care. My charity, The Lung Cancer Research Council, is partnering with NCCN to sponsor a digital Lung Cancer Patient Guide, to be distributed nationwide later this year.

The event was held at The National Press Club  and was well attended by about 200 "stakeholders" including patients, oncologist, pharmaceutical companies, cancer centers, insurance companies, and drug distributors. It was a short but well organized one day event. I wanted to share some of the things I learned.

First of all, I have to say that much of the discussion was looking at the whole issue of the "continuum of cancer care" from 50,000 feet. We started off, however, on the ground with two cancer patients telling their stories. As it so happens, both were women living in California. One had a story about being diagnosed and treated for stage 2b triple negative breast cancer; the second story was about the diagnosis of a stage 1 uterine cancer. Both women were themselves in the medical field, with one being a Ph.D. in immunology. They were both treated at UCLA's City of Hope Cancer Center and provided a glowing evaluation of the compassionate care they received.

The 30 minutes of personal cancer storytelling set the scene for, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story" which was about access, value and cost of cancer care. 

The speaker that followed was a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Her presentation was about the disparities of outcomes between adolescents, young adults, and adults with cancer and blood diseases. If I had to summarize the results of the study, it would be that that adolescents and young adults have not seen the same rate of improvement in outcomes as younger children and older adults. The question is why? Clearly, people who had access to a comprehensive cancer center had better outcomes. The problem, of course, is that not everyone has access to the best care available.

That presentation was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Dr. Scott Gottlieb, from the American Enterprise Institute. Panel members included the head of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, the former Director of Healthcare Policy for the Obama administration and current healthcare policy wonk at the Brookings Institution, a corporate healthcare benefits expert, and a data provider/consultant focused on helping all kinds of business and government entities deal "market shifts" created by the the Affordable Care Act.

To be honest, this group of policy wonks was so high-flying and so big-picture that mere mortals like me could hardly understand the main points they were making.  The one thing I got out of it was that, given a choice, people choose the least expensive healthcare plan, which may not provide sufficient coverage in the case of a cancer diagnosis. Duh.

The other thing I got out of this panel was that the number of cancer cases and the cost of cancer care is going to steadily rise. Currently the direct cost of cancer care is something on the order of $145 billion a year, but that is expected to increase to $170 billion by 2020. We also have a problem with greater demand for oncologists as the baby boomer generation ages. We are not training oncologists fast enough as the current generation of oncologists retire. The number of cancer cases is expected to increase 45 percent by 2030. That's a problem that needs to be addressed now.

The next panel brought us back down to Earth. It included a comprehensive cancer center director, a patient advocate, a representative from the insurance industry, and an actuary who works on big data analytics for Sloan Kettering. What I got out of this discussion was that insurance companies don't see their role as subsidizing academic research centers. Many comprehensive cancer centers, which are also academic research centers, are out of network because the reimbursement rates offered by carriers are too low. The actuary on the panel made a good point that insurance companies don't capture the true cost of cancer care because of the way they organize claims data. If a patient has pneumonia, a broken hip, and lung cancer, they categorize these as three separate events or claims, when in fact they are one related claim. By far the gutsiest speaker on the panel was the representative from Aetna, an MD, who plainly said that comprehensive cancer centers are just too expensive. Giving such great care costs money.

The last panel discussed the cost conundrum. This panel included someone from Express Scripts, the prescription drug provider, another patient advocate, and three different comprehensive cancer center representatives. Different "strategies" are being tried to rein in drug prices.  I thought the patient advocate brought home the reality that drug prices are so high currently that, at the end of the month, there is no money left to pay rent or buy food. The healthcare system is bankrupting families. She told a story of how a patient she was counseling had an increase in her disability payment that now disqualified her for Medicaid. The situation was so dire that the patient gave up and decided it was easier to do nothing and live without treatment.

When it comes to caring for cancer patients, there is clearly more work to do.

 

 

 

 

 

Our Days are Numbered

According to the retirement clock ticking away on my desk, I have exactly 1860 days left before I retire, if I live that long.  There are no guarantees. Right now I am cancer free, but having been diagnosed with late stage lung cancer, you never know if a recurrence is just around the corner.  I don’t dwell on it.  If I die tomorrow, I am at peace knowing that I did my best to leave the world a better place.  I am ready to meet my maker, which makes me both fearless and dangerous. I’m ready to take chances, come what may.

I think the silver lining of a cancer diagnosis is facing the reality of your mortality.  We are all going to die eventually.  The only question is when and how. 

In the meantime, I am trying to live a full and enriching life that has both meaning and purpose.  There is still a lot left I want to do! The countdown to retirement is also the liftoff to fulfilling my retirement dreams.  Yoko and I have been talking about what we want to do during our twilight years together.  Here is what we’ve (I’ve) come up with, so far.

First, Yoko and I are not going to wait to travel. We both want to see the world.  Why not do it while we are both in good health?  Earlier this year Yoko returned to Japan to visit her sister in Tokyo.  She has just one sister and she wants to spend more time with her.  We went to Europe in June, Lake Tahoe in August, and we are planning a trip to Moosehead Lake in Maine to see the fall colors. We’re taking a cruise to the Bahamas in November and planning another trip to Japan with our daughter and son-in-law at year’s end.

There is a 115 day cruise leaving The Port of Miami in January and returning in April of 2016. I would love to be on that ship when it departs!  This round the world cruise visits 43 countries, traveling through the Panama Canal to the Pacific, then onto Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, thorough the Suez Canal, transiting the Mediterranean and then back across the Atlantic.   All I need is the time, which I don’t have right now, to make the trip. It’s on my bucket list.

What I really want is enough time to just do the things I like to do.  For example, right now I am re-reading (and taking notes) on the 900 page biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Hamilton, one of this country’s founding fathers, died in a duel with Aaron Burr when he was just 46 years old.  What a life this man led and how much he made of his time! When I first read Hamilton’s incredible story, I was so inspired I thought it could be a movie. I am working on writing a screenplay that I hope to have time to pitch someday.

I’ve been reading a Pulitzer Prize winning novel called “The Goldfinch” by Donna Taratt.  I would love to write a fictional novel that wins such widespread acclaim!  Of course, you have to write a novel to win a Pulitzer. It’s just a matter of time. 

In my first year of retirement, after taking that round the world cruise, I’d like to buy and RV and travel the continental United States. There are many places to see and I’d like enough time to see it all.  I thought maybe we could travel during the day, with Yoko navigating from one interesting place to the next as we crisscross the country.  In the evenings and in between I would work on my novel and screenplay.

In year two of retirement I want to move to Cremona, Italy, learn to speak Italian, and apprentice with a violin craftsman. I heard about this place on “60 Minutes” and now I want to go.  Cremona is the birthplace of Antonio Stradivari, who was born in 1644.  His shop in Cremona is where he perfected his craft until his death in 1737 at the age of 93!  I love classical music and opera, but I am not right-brained enough to be blessed with musical talent. That doesn’t mean I can’t learn a craft like making violins.  Cremona is about 47 miles South of Milano, close enough to see La Boheme at the La Scala Opera House.  Sold!

After that I am not sure what we will do in our retirement years. I know for sure that I don’t want to golf every day nor do I want to just sit around watching daytime TV.  Yoko and I both agree that we’d want to do things that makes life enjoyable and happy for others, be it family, friends, or strangers.  They say “no good deed goes unpunished”, but Yoko and I both believe that no good deed goes without reward. Why not do good deeds while waiting on our heavenly reward? Our days are numbered.  It’s only a matter of time.

Going Back to School

Summer’s end means going back to school. I remember how I loved to shop for all the essential necessities of learning: new notebooks, pens and pencils, erasers, and a binder with carefully tabbed dividers for each subject. I obsessed about getting brand new notebooks for the new semester because it made me feel like I was getting a fresh start to my ho-hum academic career. In retrospect, I think I was a little OCD about school supplies and not nearly enough about studying.

I had a stable home life and I was solidly in the middle of the bell curve throughout high school. Like most teenagers, I was not attentive in class.  I was a below grade reader as a sophomore and had to take remedial reading classes. I joked around with friends in class.  We didn’t take anything or anybody too seriously. High school was a requirement for growing up. I got through it, but it was not something I relished. Maybe I had ADD or ADHD, but those were not a common diagnosis in my day.

My friends and I had nicknames for our teachers. We dubbed my English literature teacher “Rosebud” because of her tendency to use too much rouge. My German teacher was “Frau Schmidt,” a heavy-set woman from Bavaria. She had blonde braids on the side of her head and wore flowery embroidered dresses. She looked like she could have been one of the Von Trapp children from “The Sound of Music”. 

My gym teacher and health instructor was Mr. Orr, a leathery old man from Brooklyn.  He was a former boxer who sounded like he drank and smoked too much. He had a broken nose, and spoke with a deep gravelly voice. When someone got out of line in class, he would clench his fists and rasp, “Hey kid, how’d you like to eat a knuckle sandwich?”  It was hard to take Mr. Orr seriously.

By far the worse teacher I ever had was my algebra teacher, the tall, lanky and invariably grumpy Mr. Miller. I admit I was no angel in class, but I’ll never forget the time I went to see him after school about a “d” grade I had received. He responded to my inquiry by contemptuously saying “Get out of my sight! You make me sick!” That one encounter ended any chance I had of becoming an engineer or physicist. Math class for me was like being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language. I could not understand how the letters “A” and “B” could add up to anything.  They aren’t numbers!

I liked English literature, history, and music and did fairly well in those subjects. In my senior year I was a member of a barbershop quartet, trained by a very popular music instructor, Tim Lutz.  I was also involved in drama and became a Thespian.  It seems I was more attuned to literature and the arts than I was to math and science.

I became a good student in college and something of a scholar in graduate school.  Entering grad school at the age of twenty-seven, I had gotten a taste of the real world and was motivated to learn. I actually enjoyed academia and was sorry when it ended. Funny enough, I did my master’s thesis on a project that used a sophisticated statistical technique, logit analysis, to predict certain outcomes. The same statistical technique is used in medicine to predict the likelihood of someone developing a disease based on lifestyle or environment factors.

When I learned I had lung cancer I knew enough about statistics to ignore the depressing averages and instead focus on being the outlier who did not fit the typical lung cancer patient profile. I had no desire to just be average, with a 15% chance of five-year survival.

The lesson to be learned is that every cancer patient should understand they are not a statistic; each individual is different. Outcomes will vary widely.  A good patient, like a good student, needs to be his or her own best advocate.  Educate yourself about your disease; understand the biology of what is happening to you, evaluate your options, seek advice, and don’t be afraid to ask questions or challenge your doctor. 

Nothing is more important to living a happy life than your physical and mental health. The key to your future good health is getting an education. Welcome back to school!

Donald J. Trump....Really?

Who do you favor to be the next president of the United States and what are the characteristics of the person you hope will be elected to the most powerful office in the world?  What are the issues that are most important to you?  What are the policy changes you would like to see made that would be transformative for the future of our country.  In a word, what do you think needs to happen to get us “back on track” to being the “greatest nation on earth” and a “shining beacon of hope” for the world?

For me, the preservation of all life and the caring for our physical and emotional well-being is the most important issue, followed closely by our economic life.  No one should be without food, shelter and clothing. All of us should have access to healthcare when we get sick.  We should be safe from crime and physical or emotional abuse. We should all be afforded the opportunity to earn a living wage, love who we want, and not be condemned for our beliefs. All lives matter… black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay, straight, young, old, male, female, disabled, and unborn. We want a society that protects our most vulnerable members and provides equal justice and equal opportunity under the law.  We don’t want government intervening in every aspect of our lives.

On the other hand, anything threatening life is a legitimate target of government, whether we are talking crime, disease, pollution, food or work place safety. Key to our health and physical well-being is education. Without a universally well-educated population, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be never be achieved for all.

In this political season we are looking for a leader who has the credentials to unite the country and solve our most pressing problems, which are many.  We need someone who can set an agenda to address those problems that can positively impact the greatest number of lives.  Let’s not be fiddling in the kitchen while the barn is burning.

Like many Americans I’m bewildered by the poll numbers favoring the ever controversial, always bombastic Donald Trump, who understands and lives by the mantra that “there is no such thing as bad publicity.” I remember reading Trump’s self-aggrandizing book “The Art of the Deal” back in the 1980’s and being impressed by some of the stories he told about the things he did for the City of New York.  But fixing a failed skating rink public works project or opening cheesy casinos in Atlantic City are hardly sufficient credentials to becoming the elected leader of the free world.  Unfortunately, the vainglorious Trump seems to be sucking the oxygen out of the room for more the more serious candidates, like Ohio Governor John Kasich, who impressed me as someone, among the Republican contenders, who wants to unite the country and is both compassionate and well qualified.

What are the burning issues that threaten life in the United States?  The headlines are dominated by stories about ISIS, radical Islamic terrorism and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The enemy of the United States is also ignorance, poverty, hunger, addiction, disease, crime, and, inequality.  I only hope these issues are going to be addressed by Republicans in the upcoming campaign season.

I see the 2016 presidential election to be a potential turning point for the country; we are going to either continue down the current path to a point of no return, or we are going to change direction and begin to address the issues the American people care about.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the coming cancer boom, which anyone with half a brain knows is in our future. You don’t hear Presidential candidates even talk about cancer as an issue, despite the fact that one-in-four American lives will be lost to the disease. 

Has government done everything it can to prevent, detect, treat and cure cancer? Hardly.  Federal funding for cancer research is down 26% since 2003 and the FDA continues to create roadblocks to off-label use of promising new drugs.  Meanwhile the cost of cancer drugs is skyrocketing, sending more and more people into bankruptcy. The Affordable Care Act has not solved the problem because, while more people are covered by insurance, many of the insurance policies people can afford have high deductibles and co-pays.  

Who can afford a 10 percent co-pay on chemotherapy costing $150,000 a month?  Donald Trump can, but I don’t think he cares.  Nor will anyone else in Washington care about cancer unless you the voters do.  In this political season, make you feelings known.

Cooking in the Sun

I love the outdoors, but today’s column isn’t about summer barbeque. My Dad was from Brooklyn New York and was not into camping, hunting or fishing.  He did, however, teach me to play golf and that is the outdoor activity I most enjoy today.

As a kid I loved all sports. I was always out in the summer sun playing kick-ball, baseball, tag football, volleyball, basketball, racket ball or tennis.  When I was working, I was either cutting grass or painting or doing some sort of outdoor maintenance work or some part-time construction job.  Growing up I was working or playing in the sun from dawn to dusk seven days a week.

The thing I enjoyed most during the summer months in high school was driving down to the Jersey shore with a gang of friends.  We’d go to Ocean City and hang out on the beach for hours or walk the boardwalk. Invariably we stayed in the hot sun until we were burned to a crisp.  I remember one summer getting so sunburned on my back, I blistered.

In college for several summers I got very tanned driving an old tractor, hatless and shirtless, from dawn to dusk cutting the roadside grass. I covered 40 miles or so a day, driving in one direction from the break of dawn to sunset.  Then I would park the tractor and hitch-hike back to where I left my car.

In my youth I didn’t know that too much exposure to the sun could lead to cancer.  Working in Tokyo for many years, I was hardly ever in the sun, so I never gave it much thought.  I had an office job and most of time I was commuting by subway.  On the weekends in Japan I went sailing in the summer and skiing in the winter.  In later years I got into equestrian riding and would ride out doors on the weekends all year long. It wasn’t until we moved back to Florida in 1998 that I became conscious of how much sun exposure I was getting.

My wife Yoko, on the other hand, being Japanese, has always minimized her exposure to the sun. When Yoko is outdoors she wears a wide-brim hat and sprays on SPF 50 sunscreen. Her attitude toward being in the sun has to do, to some degree, with what the Japanese have traditionally thought when it comes to skin “beauty.”  The geisha and the beautiful young maiko (geisha in training) powered their faces white as a way to enhance their beauty. Japanese who work outdoors are subject to getting sun “spots” or blemishes on their skin, creating imperfections. The Japanese are taught in school about the danger of too much sun exposure.

About four years ago, as I was being treated for lung cancer, my oncologist noticed a spot on my scalp that, to my untrained eye, looked like nothing more than a freckle. My oncologist thought the spot looked suspicious and advised me to see a dermatologist.  I did. One week later the biopsy came back positive as early stage melanoma.

I had surgery to remove the malignancy.  I thought the surgery would be no big deal. I was wrong. It turned out, the out-patient surgery required a two inch diameter circle of skin be removed from my scalp.  It was replaced by a skin graft that took months to heal.  The surgery left me with an ugly permanent scar on the back of my head.  Ever since I see a dermatologist every six months for a full body exam covering every inch of skin.

The worse part of this story is that my beautiful wife, who, now having been vindicated about the danger of sun exposure, nags me whenever I go out doors. “Wear a hat, put on sunscreen, and cover your face and ears with sunscreen,” she says.

It’s hard for me to admit, but she is right… I don’t want to be any uglier than I already am.  And that’s what skin cancer can do for you, or worse.

Surviving the Coming Cancer Boom

If you were born between the years 1946 and 1964 you are as young as 51 and as old as 69, which puts you and me squarely in the “boomer” generation.  I was born in 1955 and will turn 60 in October, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

The post-war Baby Boom created a statistical anomaly in the age distribution of the population, a “bulge” known as “a pig in the python”. The imagery is fitting.  During every stage of life, my generation has created a “boom” as it passed through.  First it was in housing and the creation of suburbs after the Second World War, then a building boom for schools, followed by a boom in higher education, technology start-ups and so forth.  It should come as no surprise that, as the “me” generation gets older and begins to retire in greater numbers, we are not only going to stress social security and Medicare, we are going to create a new boom in age-related disease. Cancer will be chief among them.

Steve Jobs, who died in 2011 from pancreatic cancer at the age of 56, is emblematic of our age. He was someone dealing with cancer at about the same time as I was.  All the money in the world could not save him.  What might have saved him was screening and early detection.  Too bad there is no way to screen for this disease.  Until recently there was no accepted way to screen for lung cancer either.  Now, at least, an annual low-dose CT scan is recommended for people considered to be at high risk – smokers or former smokers between the ages of 55 and 74 who have a 30-pack year history of smoking or quit less than 15 years ago.

I’ve been spared from succumbing to cancer, at least for the time being. But I’ve learned my lesson.  As a two-time cancer survivor (both late-stage lung cancer and early stage melanoma) I don’t miss any recommended screenings. I get screened for lung cancer and prostate cancer once a year.  I get screened for melanoma every six months.  I have had a colonoscopy every three years since I turned 50. I get a blood screening every six months followed by a visit to see my family doctor to get the results. I have a digital prostate exam on a regular basis.  I know my LDL, HDL, CSA, PSA and every other indicator in my blood that can provide a “heads up” about potential health problems. The key to surviving cancer is an early diagnosis. Without screening, the coming cancer boom will decimate the boomer generation.

I'm considered an “early boomer” (people born between 1946 and 1955). This cohort accounts for roughly 38 million Americans. “Late boomers” born between 1956 and 1964 are another 38 million people. In all, there are roughly 76 million boomers including roughly 11 million who, like Jobs, have already died. There has been an equal number of new immigrants to replace them. Baby boomers account for roughly one-quarter of the American population.

Many baby boomers are former smokers or were exposed to second hand tobacco growing up.  In the 1950’s cigarettes were recommended by doctors as an appetite suppressant.  I remember one of my chores as a kid was to empty and clean the ash trays scattered around the house. Back then asbestos was commonly used in construction as a fire retardant. DDT was sprayed on the family lawn to kill the dandelions. Boomer generation military veterans were exposed to Agent Orange, napalm, not to mention tobacco, marijuana, and who knows what other carcinogens and pollutants.  The symptoms from all the carcinogen exposures we’ve had during our lifetime will start to show up as we begin to age.

We boomers grew up in the 60’s, the decade known for the anti-establishment, counter-culture movement, the sexual revolution and free love. That was followed by oral contraception, woman’s liberation and a boom in sexually transmitted diseases. (There were only two major STDs in 1960 -- gonorrhea and syphilis – when “Leave it to Beaver” was on TV.  Now there are over 25 major STDs!) Today we are pitched Viagra and Cialis for erectile dysfunction, and vaginal cream during the nightly news, as if not having sex is going to kill you.

The real threat to the health and happiness of the baby boom generation in the coming decade will be the ravages of cancer.  Ask your today doctor what screening are right for you.  It could save your life.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Finder

Mark Twain once said, “The rumors of my death are have been greatly exaggerated.” I guess that, as a writer, Mark Twain also had long absences.   I am told that people have been wondering what happened to me, since I have not written an article for the newspaper lately.

I am still very much alive and actively advocating for lung cancer.  I have not been submitting columns because, frankly, I ran out of things to say. After writing 180,000 words about the under-funding of lung cancer and the unfairness of how cancer research dollars are allocated, I started to sound like a broken record.  I was afraid people would lose interest in the substance of my message.  “If you have nothing to say, say nothing” is another Samuel Clements pearl.

When I originally started writing back in 2007, I was fairly convinced I was about to die.  I had a lot I wanted to say.  It was obvious that lung cancer has not had a fair shake in terms of getting research funding.  But as time moved on and my imminent death became exceedingly extended, I had less and less to say.  Time was on my side again.  Facing what I thought was certain death brought out raw emotions from which my writing and advocacy benefited.  But after a while those emotions faded.  For me, life once again became normal. There was no longer a looming personal crisis I needed to write about.

Today I am writing at the urging of a seventy-something woman, a former smoker. She was recently diagnosed with early stage lung cancer that has been successfully treated.  She says she has a very good prognosis.  She saw articles I had written about lung cancer screening last fall and talked to her doctor.  She had also seen advertising about low-dose CT screening for lung cancer. A few weeks ago, she reached out to tell me that my efforts saved her life. She urged me to continue writing. 

The Talmud says that “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.” Of course I want to do more to save more lives! The question is how?  What more is there to say?

Anyone who know me knows I ALWAYS have something to say. In fact, people have a hard time getting me to shut up long enough to get a word in edgewise. It’s a personality flaw that I can readily admit to and not so readily correct. It’s the reason why writing is such a good outlet for someone like me.  It allows me to say what is on my mind without interruption.  The plan for this space going forward is to write about things happening daily in my life that may give hope and inspiration to others who are dealing with cancer or any other disease or personal crisis. 

If you don’t know anything about my background or why I started writing in the first place, let me provide a re-cap:

On October 5^th 2007, at the age of 52, I was diagnosed with Stage IIIA Adenocarcinoma (Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer).  I had an inoperable tumor in the upper posterior of my right lung that was approximately nine centimeters in size – about as big as a baseball.  The tumor has spread to the lymph nodes in the central chest and almost into my left lung. It was impinging on the central vena cava that supplies blood to the brain and it was entirely possible that I would have a stroke or worse if some kind of intervention wasn’t done immediately.

My doctors quickly determined that this cancer was inoperable.  I set upon a course of treatments that would last five years. 

As I began reflecting about what I had accomplished in my life, I prayed that God would grant me the time to re-dedicate the rest life to helping others. I felt that I had wasted precious time for most of my life.  I did not want to die having accomplished nothing of substance. I wanted to leave some lasting legacy.   

I began to write about my life and life lessons for the sake of my children and grandchildren.  That has now extended to my readers. I hope you find my thoughts about living a meaningful life worth reading. My goal is to inspire you to do more to change the world and become an inspiration to others.