Oh, no honey that one has lung cancer, don't let it touch you, it's already raised our insurance

[RB TexLa]

rates and polluted our air, and now wants sympathy and our money for research after all it's done to us.




Lung cancer patients fight stigma



By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - "I'm sorry. You don't have breast cancer," the oncologist told Charmaine Atkenson.

The 48-year-old mother of two had something far worse -- stage 4 lung cancer. It had spread to her spine, bursting the bone open. It was not only a sentence of death; it was a judgment.

Even though Atkenson never smoked, she felt almost ashamed. "I found that I never would even say what kind of cancer I had. Or I would always start by saying I never smoked and I never lived with a smoker," she said in a telephone interview.

Lung cancer patients, advocates and specialists are meeting this week in Chicago, alongside the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, to try to dispel some of that shame.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080530/ts_nm/cancer_lung_stigma_dc_1

[Clark2008]

1. And many who smoke don't get cancer.

Smoking is not good for you, but it's not the ONLY contributing factor to cancer. In fact, I dare say it's quite a small factor, with heredity and processed foods beating it out for the top spots.

[onehandle]

3. That's right. Smoking is a contributing factor to just about every other condition you can have.

But lung cancer is a small part of its effect.

It makes everything from a common cold to heart disease worse than they should be.

[madokie]

15. I have peripheral arterial disease and the doc tells me my smoking

was a contributing factor. I quit smoking cigarettes august 14 1977

[Warpy]

4. Genetics will trump lifestyle

but lifestyle will predict where those genes will hit you and how soon.

Smoking is a major risk factor for early lung disease, heart disease and cancer--and I don't mean just lung cancer. The operative word here is early.

Some people with the genetic predisposition could quite likely not have those genes assert themselves until their 80s. If they smoke, then it will start happening in their 50s.

Lung cancer can come from exposure to asbestos, radon, and many industrial chemicals. Smoking just hastens the process.

[Wizard777]

7. Actually they do. But it's usually not until after they quit smoking.

It comes on very aggressively and usually reoccuring. For people that have smoked for decades. I'm not sure quiting is the right thing to do if you are going for longevity. If they continue to smoke it could be another 10 or 20 years before cancer sets in and kills them. But if you quit smoking that can happen in 5 or 10 years. But in an inquistion like manner. They die free of what is becoming the sin of smoking.

[Warpy]

8. That's the silliest thing I've read on this board in a long time.

Congratulations.

Whether or not a long time smoker decides to quit is a personal decision. However, continuing to smoke will shorten life span.

I would suggest you learn the difference between anecdote and fact.

[cynatnite]

9. Peter Jennings had quit smoking 20 years previous to his diagnosis...

of lung cancer.

I remember because I thought that could be me. I quit last year, but I know that I could still get nailed with the diagnosis, too.

[JeanGrey]

13. That is ridiculous.

[JeanGrey]

12. Yes. Only about 20 percent of smokers get LC, from the statistics

I've read.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Andy Kaufman died of lung cancer...

...and never smoked. Sadly, it happens...:(

[Johnyawl]

5. Andy Kaufman DID spend a lot of time in smoke filled clubs, sucking in second hand smoke

...but then, so did a lot of other stand up comedians who haven't developed lung cancer.

It's sad, that on top of having to deal with the trauma of cancer, that people have to feel guilty about getting it.

[JeanGrey]

14. It does make me angry - the article is right, if you have breast cancer

no one says "well you shouldn't have eaten that PORK" or asked them if they smoke, or other cancers and risk problems.

By the way the doctor in that article should be shot - by telling someone who has cancer that has gone from the lung to the bone and "eaten it out" that he can "guarantee a good outcome".

He is full of shit.

[cynatnite]

10. Christopher Reeve's wife died of lung cancer...

she was a non-smoker, IIRC.

[uppityperson]

6. There is more than 1 type of lung cancer also.

Parent had a type that was on outside of lung, unrelated to smoking.

More of the problem I've seen from people smoking is COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). Very simply put, the aveoli and lungs get stiff, so a person cannot breath.

[JeanGrey]

11. THANK YOU!!! I've been posting these truths forever.

And we just let thousands die because of our attitudes and no early detection tests.