WHAT DO WE NEED TO FIGHT LUNG CANCER

[Donna G]

Moving this here to see if you can help.

I have been working with Connie for several years now trying to get the word out about lung cancer, that it should not be just shoved aside as a smokers disease. That just saying DON'T SMOKE on TV ads is not enough , WE ARE LOOSING GOOD PEOPLE EVERY DAY, teachers, Mothers, Dads, etc.

For the Cancer Awareness Event this thursday Oct. 6 my husband is helping making things to put on posters that we will display at the Mall. My husband asked me point blank, "what is it exactly that you want" "I will make it up for the poster"

Here are some of my ideas:

1. Funding for Research to develop a reliable, reasonable cost, screening tool that can be available to everyone.

2. Funding for Research to develop chemotherapy sensitivity testing so the best chemo is used to treat the disease.

3. Funding for Research to develop less toxic Chemotherapy.

4. Funding to research less invasive types of biopsies, and surgery and the training of Doctors to perform these procedures. This would make rehabilitation easier, decrease chronic pain.

5. Public education about Lung Cancer

6. Activism , people to Raise Funds for research by

organizing Walks, Runs, Golf Tournaments.

7. Large Corportations to join the fight, by donating a percentage of their profits to Lung Cancer Research.

8. At least a percentage of the Tobacco Settlements to be used for Lung Cancer Research.

On the activism ribbon others said:

people to know November is Lung cancer Awareness Month,

We need a catchy slogan

We need lung cancer to be as important in the public eye as Breast Cancer

PLEASE HELP ME BY ADDING YOUR IDEAS.

_________________

[Ry]

Just thought you'd find this interesting Donna, regarding your screening tool for everyone comment. When we went to Roseanne's lung cancer walk they had a large truck there that was doing lung cancer screening using sputum. I think it was from Wayne State University. It was a mobile unit especially for that purpose and was going out and doing screening in the community.

[Donna G]

Ry, I have been a nurse for nearly 40 years and truthfully I don't ever remember anyone being initially diagnosed with lung cancer by a sputum. I am sure somebody has.

In my mind I reason the sputum would have to have been bathed by tumor cells, come from that area of the lung to have anything in it for cytology studies to see.

I am really thinking that if we could make a machine that is at least as sensitive as a dog and we could breath into it perhaps that would be one screening tool that might be cost affective to screen all. Air mixes with itself and more likely to have been exposed to the tumor.

EVeryone knows cancer has a smell to it.

[Ann]

Donna...leave it up to you to come up with some really great ideas! There is one thing that really bugs me and I will share it with you. I have such a hard time understanding why an annual chest xray is not considered to be important enough for an insurance company to pick up the tab. I have discussed this with my doctor on several occasions. He said that some of the insurance companies have come around and will now pay for the xray but others still will not cover it as a routine part of a physical. Great work Donna! I really appreciate you...and your hubby!

[Fay A.]

I personally want the idea that I am somehow a "bad" person because I am a former smoker to be changed. There are people in the Medical Community who actually believe this to be true. And it just is not so. I had a bad 'habit'. But I am a decent human being.

Donna, my Surgeon has always stated before that there was no conclusive proof that CTs were effective in picking up early stage tumors. But this last time I saw him he said that the studies are in and they prove that CTs DO detect early stage Lung Cancers. So perhaps we should also be asking for funding to create less expensive diagnostic and screening tests? That's what happened with Cervical Cancer...they always had the means to detect cervical cancer...but it wasn't until researchers developed an easy to perform, inexpensive PAP test that big strides were made in the early detection of cervical cancer.

Same thing with Breast Cancer...when mammography became cost effective breast cancer became more treatable.

I SO wish I could be with you guys this week.

[Calintay]

"I have been working with Connie for several years now trying to get the word out about lung cancer, that it should not be just shoved aside as aokers disease. That just saying DON'T SMOKE on TV ads is not enough , WE ARE LOOSING GOOD PEOPLE EVERY DAY, teachers, Mothers, Dads, etc."

Donna you are a wonderful person and a great inspiration but I took offense to the way this was worded.

[Alisa]

More funding for complementary care research (i.e. medicinal mushrooms, grape seed extract, celebrex, selenium, etc.). Studies now point to their anti-cancer benefits, but we need more controlled trials.

[lilyjohn]

I'm not quite sure how to word it but a slogan that says something about fighting lung cancer not smokers. There will never be any real help until Lung Cancer is viewed as a disease that can strike anyone not just smokers.

[daggiesmom]

On the ASCO website there is an article about the dr.s studying the breath of people with lung cancer and how they are developing a "nose" to detect this in people. Go to google and enter asco to see this article. Very interesting. Could work. I hope they persure this. Please read about it.

Joanie