WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT SPEAKING OUT ABOUT LUNG CANCER?
Surrounding the excitement of the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour is a sobering reminder about the number one cancer killer, and the amount of people that it impacts each and every day.
Carl Wilson, a founding member of the Beach Boys, succumbed to lung cancer in 1998.
According to this Rolling Stone article, Wilson, 51, was battling the disease for about a year and died with his family by his side. Although he was diagnosed with cancer last year and underwent chemotherapy, Wilson insisted on being a part of the Beach Boys tour the summer before he passed.
Wilson is just one of many well-known people who have passed from lung cancer, even though the disease is not often spoken about, particularly in Hollywood.
Desperate Housewives actress and two-time Emmy winner Kathryn Joosten, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001, seems to be one of the few speaking up about the devastating disease, even though it has affected countless others.
We hope that more people like Joosten or Wilson’s fellow Beach Boys members, who have a larger platform, are willing to speak out about lung cancer and inform the general public. Until that time, it is up to us to start the movement. As we mentioned before, every mention helps. Whether it’s informing someone just how many people lung cancer affects, trying to end the stigma against lung cancer, donating money to an organization like Lungevity, National Lung Cancer Alliance or National Lung Cancer Partnership, or displaying a lung cancer ribbon, every act you do to help raise more awareness truly does help.
According to data from the National Cancer Institute, the average five-year survival rate for a lung cancer patient is only 16%. If the cancer is caught in the later stages, after it has spread, that number can drop all the way down to 4%.
The key to fighting lung cancer is catching the disease in its earliest stages, when the five-year survival rate jumps to more than 50% and some studies have shown the 5-year survival as high as 90% if caught in stage 1.
Talk about the symptoms with your loved ones and take action in discovering lung cancer when it’s in its earliest stages, and the survival rates are higher. The more you know about the symptoms of lung cancer, the better prepared you and your loved ones will be.
To learn more about Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT-Lung, the blood test to aid in the early detection of lung cancer, please visit www.HelloHaveYouHeard.com. The test is covered by Medicare Part B and all private insurance companies (Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Aetna, etc.). Since its commercial release in 2009, it has helped find numerous lung cancer cases, and is currently being used by over a thousand doctors across the United States.
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