Sometimes little things can just hit me oh so wrong.
For instance, any mention of the ‘new face of lung cancer.’ This, my friends, is fantasy and fallacy. To be sure, there is a small but not insignificant uptick in the percentage of young, never smokers being diagnosed. However this does not constitute a new face.
New face is, just like emphasis on never smokers, unintentionally but inherently prejudicial. Bottom line, anyone can get lung cancer and no one deserves it.
The only context in which I mention my nonsmoking status anymore is when I am discussing my delayed diagnosis. Had I a smoking history, my shortness of breath and ongoing cough would not have been explained away by ‘adult onset asthma.’ Lung cancer would have been considered as a possible diagnosis and frankly I, the patient, would have inquired about the possibility. As it was, back in in 2001 (when I first became symptomatic) you never heard a peep about nonsmokers with lung cancer.
But, now we know. And although it is good to continue educating the general public, we should never do so at the expense of compassion or the advancement of bias.
Air is something we all share. And breathing is the single biggest risk factor for lung cancer.
No shame, no blame.
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 