It’s November, Lung Cancer Awareness month. We have a lot of work to do to try to raise awareness about lung cancer. Everywhere you look there are pink ribbons for breast cancer funding and awareness, fun runs, and support programs with everything from counseling to education to home cleaning assistance for breast cancer victims. I don’t want to begrudge the Susan B. Komen Foundation or anyone facing breast cancer the attention they receive, but let’s take a cold look at the facts: lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women, more than breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer ALL COMBINED, and it receives a tiny fraction of the funding and media attention of breast cancer. I’m sure I’ll see more pink ribbons just going through daily life this month than clear ribbons for lung cancer, despite it being Lung Cancer Awareness Month. it’s no coincidence that the lung cancer ribbon is clear, for the invisible cancer.
We need to take some pages out of the breast cancer community playbook. We need to be visible and galvanize and demand that lung cancer get appropriate attention and funding.
As one example, a patient of mine has a daughter who is a journalist, and this woman is now motivated to try to write a feature article on the disparity between lung cancer and breast cancer in terms of support, sympathy, and awareness. She’s planning to cover a lot of angles, and one aspect she thinks would be useful is to speak with people who have dealt with both breast cancer and lung cancer, either at different times in their lives or concurrently. If you are someone who has faced both cancers and are interested in providing your insight, please e-mail me (west@onctalk.com) or give contact info as a comment below, if you’d prefer. Any other ideas on how to scrabble for momentum in the lung cancer community, ideally without diminishing from the achievements of other patient advocacy groups, is very much appreciated. We’ve got to help ourselves.
posted by Dr. West @ 9:16 am link to this post
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November 15th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Dr West,
I couldn’t agree more but you would think that the ACS should know where the need is and do more advocacy. But I guess that would be an ideal world. Interestingly, there are many celebrities who themselves or family have been affected by lung cancer but you are right they are not speaking out about it. Maybe I will email some of the news programs about the issue and see what, if any, responses I get back. Keep up the good work.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Jay,
My sense is that we have an unfortunate situation where advocates for different cancers are in a way competing like siblings for attention and funding from a “parent” organization like ACS, or from the media or general public for that matter. Breast cancer advocacy has telegenic starpower and seems to me to be positively trendy. A company can put pink lids on their yogurt containers, raise a little bit more money for breast cancer so that the disparity with lung cancer can become even greater, and make oodles of money by being perceived as a warm and fuzzy company. Lung cancer has far fewer survivors and incredibly fewer vocal ones, almost no celebrities inclined to go to bat for the cause, and just doesn’t have the history of a lobby like breast cancer or many others.
In truth, although the politically correct answer is that we shouldn’t have different cancer causes competing with each other, they do and absolutely always will. Breast cancer is the fair haired child while lung cancer is the poor stepchild, while many, many other siblings fare far better among competitors for attention and funding.
-Dr. West
November 14th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Dr.West, thank you for your reply and your dedication to issues about lung cancer. I can certainly understand the pessimism that MDs may have when they feel they may not make a difference, however that again brings up the issue about having to treat the lung cancer at a later stage vs.an earlier stage.
I wonder if anyone has questioned a group like the ACS about why so little funding, and so little progress with lung cancer and what their answer would be. Why don’t they fund PSAs to increase awareness, for instance?
November 13th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Fillise,
Thanks for that follow-up. It’s great for lung cancer to get more attention.
Jay,
I think there are many reasons why screening hasn’t taken off, but I don’t think liability is a big one. You’re more likely to get sued if you don’t do proper screening that is indicated, but there are no major prevention services or expert committees that have recommended chest CT scans for screening for lung cancer. It’s plenty hard to get doctors to do the things that are definitely recommended for good preventive care, so they aren’t going to do any better with a study that isn’t routinely recommended yet.
Pessimism may play a role as well, a pervasive sense that lung cancer is so difficult to treat that they may feel we aren’t going to have an impact anyway.
Finally, there is a real difference between finding a non-cancerous breast lesion and biopsying or doing surgery on that vs. opening the chest to do a surgery for something that turned out not to be lung cancer.
Right now, there’s a focus on evidence-based medicine, and there’s no group of experts who have made evidence-based recommendations in favor of chest CT screening for lung cancer. So I think that’s the biggest factor leading to its lack of general use.
-Dr. West
November 13th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Alabama Governor proclaims November “Lung Cancer Awareness Month.”
Lung Cancer Awareness Month
By the Governor of the State of Alabama
A Proclamation
November 13, 2007
WHEREAS, Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Lung cancer takes the lives of more Americans each year than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney cancers combined; and
WHEREAS, former smokers and people who have never smoked comprise the majority of new cases of lung cancer each year; and
WHEREAS, seventy percent of new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed at late stage, with a fifteen percent five year survival rate; and
WHEREAS, early lung cancer diagnosis and management protocols exist, yet have not been embraced as the standard of care; and
WHEREAS, funding for lung cancer research falls far short of that for other less fatal diseases; and
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim November 2007, as Lung Cancer Awareness Month in the State of Alabama and urge all citizens of our State to do all we can to make lung cancer a national public health priority and offer compassion to people with lung cancer.
Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 13th day of November 2007.
Governor Bob Riley
November 13th, 2007 at 7:43 am
It would be great to see Dr.West on Oprah or any other program. He could be on Larry King, providing he’s written a book! Maybe we can decide on a program and contact them en masse. What do you think?
Now, no disrepect to Dr.West, but I’ve thought a lot about it and have come to some conclusions, I think. I feel now that many MDs are afraid of the liability involved in diagnosing and treating lung cancer. They dismiss early detection because if they did find something they would have to deal with it and they don’t know how to do that yet. Also, it seems to me to be less risky to their patient to remove a breat than to remove a lung. So less liability for the hospital and doctor. Dr. West, please correct me if I’m on the wrong track.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
thanks for helping with the cause. We’re having our own lung cancer awareness and screening program discussion at our institution tomorrow.
-Dr. West