Dear Oprah
Thank you to all who have written and are writing to Oprah at this link: Write to Oprah.
For anyone new to this BJALCF endeavor, please write to Oprah asking her to make Lung Cancer Matter and to feature Lung Cancer on her show, in her magazine, and around the world as the headline it needs to be. Please continue to ask Oprah if she has read Bonnie’s letter. (see below). We sent Oprah a 6-foot scroll/letter asking her to help ALL OF US raise awareness for Lung Cancer in an effort to increase funding and the abysmal 15.5% survival rate.
We know that if anyone can help us raise awareness for Lung Cancer, right now, it is Oprah. Although this “Oprah season” is over…we hope that all of your emails and Bonnie’s letter will get Lung Cancer on the schedule for next season. We all know, Lung Cancer is not seasonal and continues to hurt all of us every single day.
Bonnie’s Letter to Oprah
Dear Oprah…
I am sending you this really big letter because I need your help! I watch your show as often as I can. I am constantly amazed at how far your voice reaches and the incredible things you have done for mankind.
Single-handedly you have saved lives and helped elect a President. You bring issues to the public’s attention that would not have otherwise been noticed.
I know that if you read in the newspaper or saw on the news that a Jumbo jet just fell out of the sky you would be alarmed. If you read the very next day that another jet fell from the sky you would sit up and question what was happening. On day three, you would have Patrick Forrey on your show and you would be demanding answers and “guiding us home!”
I know that if you really knew about a disease that was killing 450 people a day in the U.S. alone and almost nothing was being done about it, you would do something. If that disease surpassed breast cancer in 1987 as the biggest cancer killer of women you would take action. If you heard that this disease received so little attention and continued to kill people because of lack of attention and funding, I am sure you would help us. So, I am convinced you don’t know.
Oprah…the disease is Lung Cancer and it kills over 1.3 million people worldwide every single year. 60% of the newly diagnosed cases are people that either never smoked or quit smoking decades ago…I am one of the very few, accidental survivors, who live to tell you.
I just reached my 5-year survival anniversary on March 17, 2009. I am part of a very small club of survivors and I need your help to increase the members. I am convinced I am here to make a difference and God only knows, this was not my plan.
Beverly Sills, Dana Reeve, Peter Jennings, Nat King Cole, John Wayne, James Whitmore, John Updike, Suzanne Pleschette, George Harrison, Andy Kaufman, Walt Disney, Herb Caen, Joe DiMaggio, to name a few celebs, have all died from this dreaded disease and no one talks about it. As big as this letter is, I can’t name all the people who have died before their time. Perhaps you know someone near and dear. I began this foundation the day Dana died because it needed to happen. Her sister, Deborah Morosini, joined our board, immediately, and stands up with us every day to fight this disease. I am not a celebrity to anyone other than my beautiful children, grandchildren, friends and now thousands of followers of this foundation. I don’t have a TV show nor do I have a movie career where I can rally fans to help me fight this disease.
All I have is the thought of you…will you help me bring this jumbo disease to the forefront and get help for so many people? Write to Oprah.
With love,
Bonnie J. Addario
Some of Your Letters
Thank you for all you do! I submitted the following message on Oprah’s site:
My husband, Mike, died of lung cancer exactly four years ago today so I write this with a very heavy heart. I hope you had a chance to read Bonnie J. Addario’s BIG letter about lung cancer. I feel strongly that lung cancer is the cancer no one wants to talk about yet lung cancer has a 15.5% survival rate. When my husband started smoking and got hooked there was no information out about the dangers of smoking and there is still precious little research being done on the disease. Mike quit smoking 7 years before he died but it was too late. In addition he worked at a uranium processing plant years ago which it is believed was much more likely to be the cause of his cancer. Research into lung cancer is greatly needed. Look what it has done for breast cancer! Just yesterday I participated in a Rally for the Cure. There are numerous ways that money is raised and awareness is increased for breast cancer but more women will die from lung cancer. I contribute to lung cancer research through OSU and Bonnie J. Addario but we need your help to bring greater awareness to this awful disease and the need for research! Your influence is great and we need your help. I also am part of widownet.org and the number of lung cancer widows on that site is alarming. No one deserves to die from lung cancer regardless of its cause and we need to find ways for early detection and better treatment. Please help us!
sstewart
Ohio
DEAR OPRAH -LUNG CANCER STRUCK OUR FAMILY MANY YEARS AGO WHEN, UPON HEARING THE NEWS IT WAS A FOREGONE CONCLUSION THAT IT WAS TERMINAL – THERE WAS NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL. THE EFFECTS OF THE DEATH OF MY WIFE’S FATHER IS AS DEVASTATING NOW AS IT WAS OVER 30 YEARS AGO WHEN HE DIED. HE DIED WITHIN WEEKS OF LEARNING HE HAD LUNG CANCER.
MY WIFE & HE HAD A SPECIAL FATHER – DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP. THE KIND OF RELATIONSHIP ONLY A FATHER & DAUGHTER CAN KNOW & FEEL. I KNOW THE FEELING. I HAVE TWO DAUGHTERS & OUR BONDS ARE TOO DEEP AND COMPLEX FOR ME TO EVEN TRY TO DESCRIBE. I FELT MY WIFE’S LOSS THEN. AND AS A FATHER, KNOW IT EVEN MORE NOW. AND I STILL SEE THE HEARTBREAKING SADNESS IN MY WIFE’S EYES.
MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED BUT THE CURE FOR LUNG CANCER MERELY INCHES ALONG. PLEASE GIVE BONNIE & THE BONNIE J ADDARIO LUNG CANCER FOUNDATION THE OPPORTUNITY TO FIGHT FOR A BREAKTHROUGH. I DON’T WANT THAT SADNESS IN MY DAUGHTERS’ EYES.
BY THE WAY, OPRAH, BONNIE IS COMPASSIONATE, PASSIONATE, & RELENTLESS ~ YOU WOULD LIKE HER !
THANKS FOR LISTENING
JACK B
Pennsylvania
Dear Oprah,
My wife, Kay, died of lung cancer four years ago. She was a non smoker who worked hard at maintaining her health. She exercised regularly and was a vegetarian. It is a mystery to me as to how she contracted cancer. Research in regard to lung cancer needs to be increased. It is a vicious desease that is
ignored. People often blame lung cancer victums for their own death. That opinion is wrong it needs to be corrected. I know that you can help in raising awareness of the need for powerful and persistent lung cancer research. I appreciate and admire you for what you do for the people of this country and the world.
Ray White
Indiana
Dear Oprah,
I am writing to tell you my mom’s story. My mom was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer on March 1, 2006-Ash Wednesday at the age of 52. The lung cancer had already spread from her left lung to her lymph nodes and liver. It was a miracle that she was even diagnosed when she was. She randomly felt an enlarged lymph node in her neck and decided to go to her PCP. He was not concerned but decided to do a chest x-ray just for piece of mind. Unfortunately, it was cancer.
Within weeks of diagnosis, my mom was getting chemotherapy. It made her nauseas, tired, and caused a lot of pain. Yes, the chemo caused a lot of pain.She went through several rounds of chemo all the while, working full time and never giving up hope. Despite chemo, the cancer spread to her bone, brain, and ovaries. She had to get gamma knife radiation and whole brain radiation to her brain. She also received different chemotherapy…one that caused lesions allover her body. She could not even lay her head on her pillow without being inexcruciating pain.
As the cancer did more damage, she had a difficult time walking. The pain in her sacrum from the cancer in the bone was terrible. The radiation caused damage to her brain and that coupled with the pain medications changed her personality and caused her to have a very flat affect. As time went on, she was unable to care for herself. My 2 sisters, my dad, and I had to do everything for her. On September 17, 2009 at the age of 55, 2.5 years after diagnosis, my mom died in her home with her family by her side. She fought until her last breath, never wanting to die. I miss her everyday.
The world needs to take notice of lung cancer. My mom deserved to live to see her grandchildren and experience life.
Sincerely,
Jill McGehee
Virginia
Dear Oprah,
My mother was an incredible woman. She had been the primary care giver to my father, a victim of multiple strokes, for over seven years when a
routine chest x-ray revealed that she had stage three non-small cell lung cancer. The cancer had metastasized, and we were told she had no more than
18 months to live. She immediately became her own best advocate, researching available clinical trials and treatments. She proactively read
everything she could find about the disease and went to each doctor’s visit prepared to discuss her options.
Although she came close to death several times, my mother lived more than seven years with this disease, all the while caring for my father. I know
she lost count of the times she was asked, ‘Did you smoke?’ Even for the most noble and courageous of people, lung cancer carries a stigma, not
unlike the AIDS virus.
My father died on Valentine’s Day, 2005. I lost my mother only 7 weeks later, on my eldest daughter’s birthday. I miss her every day and my heart
is heavy with the realization that my grandchildren will not be soothed or sung to by this remarkable woman.
I hope you have read Bonnie Addario’s BIG letter. Please help give lung cancer the attention and funding it deserves.
Sincerely,
Diane Hoppe
Wisconsin
Dear Oprah,
I have been fortunate in the sense that I have not had any close relatives with lung cancer, but I am well aware of how deadly this disease truly is. I am currently a scientist studying novel therapeutics for the treatment of lung cancer at the University of California, San Francisco. While science and our understanding of the disease may appear to be moving at an excruciatingly slow pace, these small steps are extremely important for developing new treatment options. Our ability to progress as scientists is dependent on public awareness and funding from government and small non-profit groups such as the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. I hope you have had a chance to read Bonnie’s letter and will consider having her on the show to increase awareness of this serious disease.
Sincerely yours,
Beverly Falcon
California
Dear Oprah, Of all the lethal cancers, lung cancer is the absolute highest killer of men and women! More than 200000 people in the USA will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year. As a pathologist at the biggest Cancer Center in the USA, I diagnose at least 5 new cases a day. And 20% of cases with lung cancer may occur in non-smokers, who may have been exposed to second hand smoke or just have bad genes! One of the solutions is early detection, as if discovered while still a small tumor, it can be surgically removed, with a good outcome. However most patients will present when they are symptomatic, and in a more advanced stage of lung cancer when their prognosis is poor, and death will occur within 12 to 18 months. For this reason I have devoted myself to research and we have developed novel sputum and blood tests that can accurately reflect the presence of lung cancer or the risk of acquiring lung cancer. These tests can be used in conjunction with sensitive CT scans of the chest. We need more awareness of the need for early detection ,to stop smoking on a global scale and to raise money for research to develop targeted therapy. I have a personal interest in this disease as my husband, a non-smoker, died of lung cancer at a fairly young age. Please read Bonnies’ BIG letter for more details.
Thanks Oprah for all you do to promote better health through public awareness.
rkatz
Texas
Dear Oprah,
I hope that you have had a chance to read Bonnie J. Addario’s BIG letter. Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer there is, and it affects so many lives every
year, every month, every week , every day, every hour and every minute. There is definitely not enough attention drawn to this form of cancer, and we need your in help in spreading information about it. My wonderful beautiful mother died of lung cancer five years ago. She had great care, great doctors and a great support group. But I feel there was more that we could or should havedone…She had just retired from 30 yrs. with the federal government and was ready to begin her funfilled traveling days. She was a single parent raising three girls, and the best role model I have ever had…I miss her every minute of every day, and just wish that we could have done more to call attention to this awful disease. We need to raise money not only for a cure but for the other aspects of this cancer. Taking my mother to appointments and to chemo, you see the patients that have no family or friend support. The 65-year old lady that just endured 6 hours of chemo having to take a bus home because she cannot aford a taxi and has no one to pick her up. The 30-year old mom who is an embarrasment to her young children because she is bald. Wigs are expensive, and with the cost of medical expenses she can barely pay the rent, there is definitely no money left for wigs or scarves…there are many more stories just like these, and we need to help. We need to set up funds for taxi rides home forom chemo and appointments, we need to have a wig fund for those who cannot afford them. My family participates in the relay for life every year, raising funds for cancer, but we need more…we need this issue talked about on the most watched TV show that there is…The Oprah Show…please consider this for all of the lung cancer patients that are suffering today.
thank you, Karen Urias Until we find a cure………………
Dear Oprah,
Today you received Bonnie Addario’s very LARGE letter regarding Lung Cancer. First off, I believe that Bonnie is someone you would want to meet. Being a survivor of this deadly disease is just one of the many awe-inspiring things about her. She has taken her survivorship to the highest level of “giving back” to society. At 60 years old, a time when many people think about retirement, she spends her time working on eradicating lung cancer, not a small task considering how this disease has been basically ignored. How can a cancer that kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancers combined be so ignored? One of the common answers is cigarettes. People don’t know that sixty percent of lung cancer cases are former or never smokers… never smokers!
Oprah, I know you will be receiving many letters today and tomorrow regarding this disease and the Bonnie Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. I won’t repeat the devastating statistics, that alone should make anyone want to get involved. But, I will tell you that Bonnie Addario and her team are an amazing group of people dedicated to making a difference through research, advocacy and awareness… not to mention, the unconditional comfort she gives to people currently living with lung cancer. She has attracted the attention and subsequent support from many celebrities and influential people in both the entertainment and medical world. She has an infectious personality and a sharp-as-a-tack brain. I have no doubt that she can do for lung cancer what Susan G. Komen did for breast cancer. And, with your help, she can do it much faster. We don’t have time to waste. 450 people die a day… and most people have no idea that this is going on. Its not just a smoker’s disease. It’s everyone’s disease.
Please consider helping us educate the world. Its through awareness that change happens. You prove that time and time again.
Thank you, Oprah.
Whitney Spagnola
California
Oprah,
One year ago I lost my dear father to lung cancer. He had been an avid runner and overall a very healthy person. When he was 64, on the day he retired, he was diagnosed with lung cancer that had also spread to his spine. Just two weeks prior to this we had run ten miles together. His lung function never was compromised. Six weeks later he passed away. All it would have taken to have him alive today is the opportunity of having a preventative CT scan. He was diligent in getting scanned for prostate cancer and having regular colonoscopies. These tests are all covered by insurance. A CT scan is not.
I wanted to bring to your attention my goal of bringing this killer, lung cancer, more into the public eye. It requires a CT scan to diagnose lung cancer in the early stages where there is a chance of survival. This CT scan is not covered by insurance, yet it is cheaper than a colonoscopy. I find this unconscionable. My father was a healthy, wonderful man with many years yet to live.
Lung cancer may have a bad “rap” as being the person’s fault because of smoking. Not all lung cancer is caused by smoking. But even if it were, it is a terrible way to die. Many other cancers are “caused” by, or at least have risk factors that are very much under the person’s control. Obesity, inactivity and poor diet all increase risk. These reasons are not any excuse for not trying to save lives. My father was very healthy. He was extremely active, ate healthy, ran at least five days a week and had for 25 years. He did marathons, triathlons, hiked, backpacked, canoed, hunted and overall lived an incredibly healthy and active lifestyle. Cancer does not discriminate. It is a horrible disease that is taking our loved ones. Please help by using your influence in heightening public awareness and working toward getting CT scans covered by insurance.
Thank you for your help!
Laurie Pratt
Utah
Is laughter really the best medicine? I’m not sure. If I had lung cancer and the doctor offered me the choice of watching a Three Stooges movie or taking a powerful medication to treat and hopefully cure my disease, I think I’d go with the medication.
But laughter can help create awareness about lung cancer. That’s why San Francisco’s Comedy Day has partnered with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. This year marks our 29th annual presentation of the first outdoor comedy concert in the world. The five hour laugh marathon in Golden Gate Park on Sunday, September 20 is themed “Laughter is the Best Medicine” and is dedicated to the eradication of lung cancer through research, early detection, education, prevention, and treatment.
We need to get the word out about the leading cause of cancer death in the United States among every ethnic group — one in every three cancer deaths. It kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancers combined. And it’s the foremost cause of cancer deaths among women — nearly twice as many as breast cancer. The majority of lung cancer patients are diagnosed so late, they will die within a year. An average of 439 people a day die from this insidious disease.
Comedy Day is especially excited to shine the spotlight on the newly-created Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI) — a national, virtual lung cancer institute that would develop and direct high-quality tissue specimen repositories, data systems and foster collaborations to achieve a cure for lung cancer faster than any single entity can achieve independently.
Oprah, won’t you please help the Bonnie J. Addario achieve its dream of one day laughing in the face of lung cancer?
Thank you,
Barry Katzmann
Comedy Celebration Day
California
Dear Oprah,
I am writing to follow up with Bonnie J Addario’s letter and to tell you how lung cancer has forever changed my life.
Can you believe that I am still here at almost four years since my diagnosis of stage IV Lung Cancer? I have written several times to request that you do a show about this terrible disease. Over 160,000 Americans die ever year with no fanfare or any outrage about this national pandemic. As a group and individually, we are consistently blamed for our disease as people perceive this as a self-inflicted disease and as a result, there is virtually no funding for treatment. There is no way we can begin a new a war on cancer without specific plans to combat this killer as lung cancer kills more people than breast, colon, prostate cancers combined. There is a misconception that if everyone would only quit smoking, there would be no more lung cancer. That is a huge misconception and the fact is that 60% of those diagnosed are never or former smokers.
As a rare survivor, I have become active in trying to educate and support lung cancer patients and their families in my area. I have formed a grass roots organization called Lung Cancer Connection. My co-founder and I were horrified at the lack of information and support we received after being diagnosed. We have found that even those we ask to treat us are often unaware of the disparity in funding for research and often just send lung cancer patients home to die. For me, the life I had planned will never happen. I continue with chemotherapy, knowing that at some point it will stop working. Even thought I worked in the healthcare field, I did not know anything about lung cancer. I did not know that I might be at risk and I never dreamed that I would receive a terminal diagnosis at age 51. What a huge impact you could make on the experience of those who daily are devastated with a diagnosis of lung cancer by doing a show educating and informing the public of the true facts of lung cancer.
I was fortunate to be selected to attend the Lung Cancer Alliance’s Capitol Forum last week and we learned how best make our voices heard on Capitol Hill. The forum ended with a trip to the Capitol and visits with our leaders. I was very disappointed with my own Senators’ response to my request for support for the Lung Cancer Mortality Reduction Act. I certainly feel that I would have received a different response if I had a more politically correct diagnosis. I did sit in meetings with other leaders and was impressed and encouraged with so many of the responses. We survivors are few and lucky to be alive and will continue to fight for the majority who do not survive. Please. Please help us make this a national priority. We have lost too many people and it is time to do something to help stop this disaster.
Sincerely,
Myrtle Chidester
Illinois
I’m glad to see so many lung cancer advocacy groups working together these days, and one of the leaders in advocacy and collaboration (including grant support for GRACE) is the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation. A survivor herself, Bonnie started a foundation working on research and advocacy issues and isn’t afraid to chase visible people down to convince them why they need to care about lung cancer.
Dear Oprah She now has her sights on one of the most important and visible people in media: Oprah Winfrey. Today, she sent a 6 foot letter/scroll to Oprah to highlight the importance of lung cancer and why she needs to make it the focus of some of her attention and airtime in her upcoming season. And she’s hoping to have this message amplified by getting other people to send their own e-mail messages conveying the same point.
Check out the contents of the letter and the details of her campaign, and let’s say thanks to Bonnie for not being shy about going for the big fish in trying to get some of the spotlight on lung cancer.
Jack West, MD
Washington
Dear Oprah, I hope you’ve read the BIG letter from Bonnie Addario in San Francisco about lung cancer — I can’t tell you how much I’d like to see you talk about this horrible beast of a disease on your show!! Lung Cancer is the number one cancer killer of women in this country and yet gets little attention – and little money for research. Yes, there is the sorry stigma of lung cancer and smoking which has impacted monies for research, screening and a cure. But lung cancer is not all about smoking; plenty of non-smokers and former smokersd are sufferers.
We women are more than our breasts! Women all over our country need to be alerted to lung cancer as a real and present danger!! I am lucky to be one of the few lung cancer survivors; my cancer was discovered by “accident.” But we should have screening methods and better treatments that give women with lung cancer a fighting chance to survive – 15% survival at 5 years is just not acceptable!!
You have done so much to bring attention – and solutions – to huge problems in this country. Please, please consider lung cancer as your next big issue!!
mbwheeler
california
Dear Oprah –
I am writing you today, like so many others, to IMPLORE you dedicate one of your shows to lung cancer. I trust you have seen and read Bonnie Addario’s BIG letter on the matter. I am sure you are now aware of the tragic and UNJUST facts of the disease.
No one DESERVES lung cancer. And, you do NOT have to smoke to get it. As yoU have learned, lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma cancers…COMBINED. Yet, it receives a MERE FRACTION of the attention and research funding.
Like the Addarios, my family has also started a lung cancer foundation. We did so in honor of my mother, Joan Gaeta, in order to raise awareness of the disease, to educate the public, and to be an advocate for research. We also strive to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer and support survivors and their loved ones in our local community.
A life long NON-SMOKER, my mom was a devoted wife, teacher, and mother of five. Diagnosed in early 2004, she fought a three and a half year battle before succumbing to the cancer in July of 2007.
During that time, mom stressed the need for greater awareness of lung cancer (the number one cancer killer in the world), its low survival rate, and its unacceptable lack of research funds. She was most passionate about eliminating the STIGMA of the disease, since lung cancer also strikes non-smokers at a high rate.
OPRAH – you have been blessed with a tremendous power to alter public opinion and change the culture. One show on lung cancer could create the momentum needed to finally to win the fight. Will you help us?
I invite you to read about my mom here: http://jglcf.org/Memory.aspx
Learn more about the injustice here: http://jglcf.org/lungcancer.aspx and http://jglcf.org/research.aspx
I thank you very much!
Joe Gaeta
Georgia
Dear Oprah,
The reason for this message is because in the past three weeks my life has taken a traumatic change. My mother was told that she is suffering from lung cancer. Never in a million years did my family nor I ever think this would be happening to us. The truth of the matter is that it is. We also learned that there is a possibility that my grandmother has it too. They have never smoked nor thought that the air alone can cause such harm.
I want to plead you with every being of my heart to please advice America about this disease that is killing hundreds of people. If there is someone that can do the job is definitely YOU! And this is why we are begging you to please educate everyone out there about this deadly disease. I am very fortunate to have found one of the best Foundation out there, the Bonnie J. Addario Foundation. I E-mailed the foundation and found a great support in Bonnie and Sheila. I can tell you that if it was not for them I would be a complete mess. They have helped me in so many different ways. From responding to my email as fast as 1,2,3 to come along with us to my mother PET scan so we can have support from someone that knows so much about this disease. There are thousands of people that might not know that there is help available… people like Bonnie and Sheila. Please read Bobbie’s big letter and help us spread the word out and help us find a cure for this deadly disease, join us for the fight of Lung Cancer. Let there be thousands and thousand of Bonnies’ that can survive and fight this great enemy that is killing so many Mothers, Fathers, Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Sisters. Aunts, Uncles and Friends. LET AMERICA BE AWARE!!!
Karen Ramirez
California
A daughter that pleads you to please save the pain of other families.
Dear Oprah,
My name is Raegan Cury. I am a 43 year old wife and mother of 2. I am writing in hopes that you will help raise awareness about lung cancer and it’s severe lack of funding for research and early detection methods. This is an extremely important issue to me. My paternal grandfather died from lung cancer. In 2000, my mother-in-law died from lung cancer. In 2001 my father-in-law died from lung cancer. In June 2002 I was diagnosed with lung cancer. In June 2004 my sister-in-law died from lung cancer.
I had broncheoloalveolar carcinoma, a non-smoking related lung cancer that usually does not spread to other areas of the body. I say “had” because thanks to a life-saving lung transplant, I am here today, cancer free, almost 5.5 years out.
Lung cancer is a stigmatized disease because most people think that it is completely attributed to smoking. But non-smoking related lung cancer is on the rise and every time I turn around I hear of another “never smoker” being diagnosed. Because lung cancer usually is detected only in late stages, there are few survivors left to undertake a grassroots effort for fund raising. I am working with a group in my city to change that. We need your help.
More people die from lung cancer than colon, prostate, and breast cancers combined. Yet there is no PSA, colonoscopy, or mammogram in the world of lung cancer. More funding is needed for earlier detection and better more effective treatments. Please help us shine a light on this equal opportunity disease. Thank you for all that you do.
Sincerely,
Raegan R. Cury
Florida
Breast cancer runs in my family. As important as breast cancer awareness/funding are to me personally, I find it mystifying that other cancers don’t receive the same celebrity in public consciousness. Statistically, I’m more likely to die from lung cancer than breast cancer – I don’t smoke. The # of women killed by lung cancer is just shy of double the amount of women killed by breast cancer, and women are the most common non-smokers who develop lung cancer. Why doesn’t America’s #1 cancer killer get equal attention? We need an attitude adjustment!
As a society, we are missing the mark when it comes to lung cancer. Lung cancer kills more Americans every year than breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined – more people than would die if a full 747 aircraft were to crash every day of the year!
Public attitudes are often the primary obstacle to fighting a disease. These attitudes can and must adjust in order to allow progress. For breast cancer, the correlation between adjusting pubic attitudes and lives saved has been a fantastic and proud achievement – making major changes across the three generations of women in my own family who have had breast cancer. For lung cancer though, stigma, blame and apathy persist, as do the disproportionate lack of private and federal funding in relation to the deadliness of lung cancer.
Lung cancer is everyone’s problem. It does not only affect smokers, which is the fallacy some people cite when they write-off the importance of stopping it. The ACS says that half of all new lung cancer patients are ex- or never-smokers.
Cancer is not anyone’s fault. But cancer is everyone’s problem, lung cancer included, and we must take action. No matter how shallow our pockets are in this economy, our hearts remain full. There are numerous ways to demonstrate that apathy and attitudes of blame are passe, and that caring and doing are needed now. Please Oprah, help bring Lung Cancer the attention and truth it warrants as only you can do.
Devon Pryor
California
Dear Oprah, I sincerely hope that you have had a chance to read Bonnie J. Addario’s message. Lung cancer causes more deaths than the next 5 cancers put together but has minimal funding. My wife a life long non-smoker died in January from this evil disease. Her only symptom before being diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer was a persistent cough. She did not need to die and suffer horribly in the process. Had she been screened for Lung cancer as she was for breast and cervical cancer and we had caught it early she would still be here. We need a national movement to create an awareness of the evils of lung cancer and to emphasis the importance of screening which would lead to early detection. When detected early survival rate skyrocket. Stage IV detection is pretty much a certain death sentence. If you were able to sincerely get behind this cause I’m sure we could create a national firestorm of awareness and problem solving. I know there is a solution we just need the funding to see it come to pass. Please become aware of the importance of creating an awareness of this evil!!
Ron Baretta
Colorado
very dear Oprah,
I am Dana Reeve’s sister, Deborah Morosini, and I truly need your help. As our family marks this Memorial day weekend, we remember Chris, who was injured 14 years ago. Dana and Chris’s ability to transform their own personal tragedy into hope and action for those living with spinal cord injury and paralysis inspires amd drives me forward each day. I am a 3rd generation physician working in oncology drug research. When Dana was diagnosed with lung canncer and so quickly succumber to the disease, I was struck so forcefully by the peculiarities and darkness surrounding this cancer. While lung cancer kills more than all the major cancers combined, it has historically received woefully inadequate research funding. Seldom symtomatic until it is invariably incurable, lung cancer swoops in and destroys lives. Currently 60% ofpatients diagnosed are non-smokers or never smokers, and the disease disproportionately affects women. Pateints and families bear the double burden of a terrible illness and the surrounding stigma associated with a cancer that many may dismiss as “deserved.” Since I lost Dana, I have made it my life’s mission to increase awareness and research funding for lung cancer. The disease does not have a large robuse survivor community. What we lack in size we surpass in passion, creativity and vigor. I know you loved Dana dearly. She and Will were so thrilled to meet you, and Will and I still joke about his “bad hair day on Oprah!” Your voice is strong, sweet and resonant, and I urge you to lend us your voice in any way that you can. I trust you have gotten Bonnie’s BIG letter..Bonnie and I share a special bond in that she created her foundation the day we lost Dana, on March 6, 2006. I write to you from the heart (hence the free-form) and I send you a prayer electronically.
Love and like,
Deborah
Massachusetts
Please focus one of your wonderfully informative shows to the issue of lung cancer, which despite being the single most deadly cancer killer receives the least amount of funding, largely due to the stigma that lung cancer is just a smoker’s disease.(as if that should matter) My sister-in-law, sister of my partner of 30 years, age 54, died of lung cancer last August 12, her diagnosis having happened the previous September when she developed almost overnight a slight cough, leading to discovery of her lung tumor. She was a non-smoker, as were so many others with this excruciating illness, most of whom do not survive. My dear friend Dr. Deborah Morosini, sister of the late Dana Reeve, is a wonderful spokesperson for this cause, as are Bonnie Addario, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel and California Senator Diane Feinstein, both of whom were recently responsible for woefully inadequate supplemental funding for lung cancer research. As someone who is HIV positive, and fortunately healthy, I am reminded through lung cancer of the stigma and silence attached to and surrounding HIV/AIDS in its early years of devastation. Silence = Death truly did equal death. You have the unique forum in which to bring lung cancer out of this silence and a program on this issue will be so appreciated by the thousands of us who have been devastated by this scourge, and in the memory of those who did not survive. Many thanks to you.
James Rosen
Los Angeles, California
The lack of aware of Lung Cancer as the second biggest killer (behind cardiovascular disease) in the U.S. and the world is staggering. I have helped direct and facilitate basic and clinical research over the past 25 years across virtually all therapeutic areas (neurosurgery, endocrinology, virology, pathology, oncology) but it has only been since I took on a leadership position in a new “virtual” Lung Cancer research institute that I have come to perceive the hidden devastation of this almost uniformly fatal disease. The unspoken stigma associated with Lung Cancer reminds me of the first decade of AIDS, of blaming the victim and the irrational response that by ignoring the problem it might just go away on its own. The reality is that no one says to an advanced stage melanoma patient “you should have put on sunscreen”, but Lung Cancer is different (even though an estimated 50% of Lung Cancers in women are not even attributable to smoking). I suspect that this stigma has lead to Lung Cancer receiving a grossly disproportionately low share of federal research funding support and biopharmaceutical development focus.
Therefore, I respectfully urge you that wield the extraordinary impact of your program to highlight the challenges and opportunities of Lung Cancer research. I also encourage you to read the “big” letter your program received on May 21, 2009 from Lung Cancer survivor Bonnie J. Addario. Bonnie, among the too few that can even lay claim to the badge “survivor”, has established two non-profits seeking to address these challenges, and I serve as the president of the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (termed “Alchemy”) now building collaborative research programs and linking academic, community and biopharmaceutical scientists and business leaders to accelerate and catalyze the development of effective therapeutic options.
Steven Young
Connecticut
