Lung Cancer Sucks...and so does the stigma...

So as many of you know I do a lot with Lung Cancer- My new job is Manager of Operations & Communications for the NC Lung Cancer Partnership... but why?  Most of my close friends know that in 2005 my dad passed away from Lung Cancer... and for those who don't know me so well..yes he smoked.. but NO he did NOT deserve lung cancer, no one deserves that awful disease. 


My dad had a bad habit, yes.. but just because people have bad habits doesn't mean they deserve bad things to happen to them. It has actually been found that 60% of people who develop lung cancer NEVER smoked or quit decades ago.  Don't get me wrong, Don't smoke... but next time someone is diagnosed with lung cancer you know.. ask how they are first before asking the question they always get: "well, did you smoke?" That's like asking someone who just got seriously injured in a car accident " Well were you speeding? Then it was it your fault." 


The goal for my organization is to raise awareness and raise funds for lung cancer research - Lung cancer is the number 1 cancer killer -- it kills more people annually in the u.s. than breast, colon and prostate cancers combined - and yet it is the least funded. 


My dad passed away 5 years ago in April and I know I have to make a difference for his disease.. not only for lung cancer patients like my dad, but for their daughters. So they have their fathers there to see them graduate college, walk them down the aisle at their wedding or be a grandfather to their children.  No one deserves lung cancer and no one deserves to lose a parent from lung cancer.

Thanks for letting me get on my soap box! :)

Me and my dad on a cruise - Christmas 2004 - Not a great quality picture but a good pic!