<p>Has everyone heard about Dana Reeve, Christopher Reeve’s widow? She has lung cancer. Oh my, that is such horrible news.</p>
<p>I saw that- I get updates from the Reeve foundation regulary
That is pretty scary- I was just talking to my doctor about the lung cancer rate in this country, compared to other countries in Europe where they seem to have a lower rate even though they also seem to smoke like chimneys.
I don’t think Dana smoked- but I quit smoking when it was much easier too- about 28 years ago before such a high level of additives were permitted in tobacco and I worry about my husband who has tried to quit many times before, once for over a year, but the pull is too seductive.
PLus have you noticed that how often they show smokers in movies?
Not just in French movies where they practically smoke during the “act” as well as post , but in american movies still to seemingly signify “coolness and sophistication”
sorry to go off on my tangent
I don’t really know much about lung cancer and mortality rate- I will
pray for her and her family</p>
<p>I read a report that says she was definitely NOT a smoker.</p>
<p>It is a shocking piece of news, and I will hold positive thoughts for her (and add her to the list of people I think of whenever I glance at the yellow LiveStrong band on my right wrist.)</p>
<p>Before moving to CA, I lived in the same part of NY as the Reeves (Westchester County). The area is rife with underground pockets of radon gas, which I believe has been shown to be associated with lung cancer. One of our homes tested too high for radon leaking in from the bedrock, and before we could sell it we had to install complicated and expensive abatement equipment in the basement. I believe there was some talk when comedian Andy Kaufman died of lung cancer some years ago that living in radon-heavy areas might have had some effect (he claimed to have never smoked anything in his life). Although smoking is surely a high contributor to lung cancer, it is not the only factor. I hope someday we will know so much more about this and related horrible diseases.</p>
<p>That is really sad news. And scary to know that one more non-smoker has lung cancer. Just yesterday I was reading that the survival rate for lung cancer is not good, since the diagnosis is usually pretty late stage.</p>
<p>It is entirely possible to get lung cancer without being a smoker. I run a cancer-related non-profit organization and I’ve met a few folks who never smoked but have lung cancer. I believe the national statistic is about 10% of lung cancer patients are not smokers, but I could be wrong about that. Lung cancer survival rates are not good, especially if you are very young - as Dana Reeves is - when it occurs. I can’t help wondering about the cancer-stress connection: it seems like so many people I have worked with who have cancer suffered major stress in their lives in the year or two before cancer occurred. Certainly, Dana Reeve was under such tremendous stress for so long.</p>
<p>OMG, that is horrible news. It is horrible for ANYONE. Her case feels even worse with all she has been through and also the fact that her children have just one parent. </p>
<p>I was thinking about lung cancer yesterday upon reading about Peter Jennings. It is even hard to read about that and now about this. My dad died of lung cancer 21 months ago and had been in perfect health until his diagnosis. It is like Chocoholic said, it is often caught way too late as there really are few symptoms noticeable until that point. Well, I better stop now cause this all makes me quite emotional. I will think about Dana Reeve and hope very much that her therapeutics heal her. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Carolyn, I did not see your post when I posted. My dad had smoked a lot as a young adult but quit at least 35 years ago. When he got lung cancer, he had regrets about ever having smoked though I felt at least he prolonged his life by quitting. I have not heard of the stress connection. My dad was under stress in the months leading up to his diagnosis (my mom kept having health problems so he was dealing with that) and thus did not take that much notice of himself getting tired more than usual. Once he did, the diagnosis was too late in the game.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Carolyn, that is just SO SAD! I do agree about stress and illness. There is so often a very clear link. My word.</p>
<p>We have been through so much in our lives this summer, my husband lost his best friend at 55 of a heart attack, a dear friend (also 55) died of colon cancer two months after finding it, and while we were at his funeral on Thursday, one of my closest friends was having surgery for ovarian cancer. What is this about? Scary. What a fragile mystery life is.</p>
<p>My sister in law was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 43. She had never smoked in her life, nor is my brother, her husband, a smoker. She didn’t grow up breathing second hand smoke either. Symptoms were minimal–in fact she was told she most likely had acid reflux.</p>
<p>When the diagnosis was confirmed, she was in Stage IV, the last and worst stage. She died 9 months later leaving behind two young girls under age 10.</p>
<p>It DOES happen to people who don’t smoke. Besides being a struggle beyond belief, many lung cancer patients don’t get much sympathy because people think “you brought this on yourself.”</p>
<p>I did hear that Dana Reeve’s cancer is operable. That may mean Stage I, the best chance to really be cured. I wish her luck and hope. She clearly doesn’t need any courage–not many people are ever tested as much as she has been.</p>
<p>Lung cancer does occur in people who do not smoke, and have never smoked, although I believe the %age is much less than 10% (closer to 1%). In non-smokers, it is classically (but not 100%) a particular type that is often spread in the lung, but usually confined to the lung at diagnosis. It does not have a good prognosis, however, because it usually cannot be treated well with surgery or radiation.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly from several months ago when he was diagnosed, peter Jennings had a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer that virtually never occurs in non-smokers and usually is treated with chemo.</p>
<p>The background incidence of lung cancer is probably very low - remember we don’t really know, because people have been smoking since the 1600s, and prior to modern days lung cancer and advanced TB would have looked a lot alike. Cigarette smoking, though is the underlying cause of the vast majority of cases of lung cancer - as we get people to stop smoking the lung cancer incidenceis finally beginning to peak (it might have already peaked if women had not started smoking in great numbers in the 50s and 60s).</p>
<p>The rule of thumb that I was taught was that a smoker’s risk of lung cancer became close to that of a non-smoker 15 years after quitting, although many researchers believe it never returns to the non-smoking baseline risk.</p>
<p>A major (but not the only) cause of lung cancer in non-smokers is thought to be years of breathing radioactive radon gas that accumulates to dangerous levels in houses in certain areas. Low levels of radon are naturally emitted by granitic rock formations, and houses built over them with poor ventilation and/or kept closed up for the winter can have radon build up.</p>
<p>Certain types of air pollution are, of course, not good for your lungs either.</p>
<p>Carolyn, cancer is such a mean desease. I am hopeful that Dana Reeve will recieve top treatment. I wish this level of treatment was available to all. </p>
<p>I took a train trip across the country to visit my sister who is in the advanced stages of non operable cancer. Whenever the train stopped for ten minutes a herd of people would get off and go to the edge of the platform to smoke. You don’t have to smoke to get cancer but it helps.</p>
<p>I just read this morning that she has started chemotherapy, which is not a good sign, mainly because an earlier stage would be treated with surgery and radiation.</p>
<p>What’s worse, the poor woman was forced to disclose it, because the National Enquirer was about to !!! How sick is that. I know that you lose privacy as you gain fame, but some of these tabloids are just callous.</p>
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<p>And as I noted, coureur, radon gas is naturally occurring at high levels in the area of NY where both the Reeves and my family lived (Westchester County). We grumbled a lot about the mitigation we had to do, but secretly I felt better about having done it.</p>
<p>I am holding good thoughts for her and for her family, especially their son.</p>
<p>When I mentioned this thread to my husband of two and a half years, he told me that our house was found to have traces of radon in the basement several years ago by a firm checking all the buildings at the boarding school where we live. The way to solve this problem in basements is to have an exhaust fan running 2-3 hours a day on a timer to clear out the radon. After I shared the information from this thread with him, he said the fan had been running 2 hours each night in the middle of the night. To be sure it is still working, he reset the timer so that the fan will run at least two hours each evening while we are still awake. Thanks, all!</p>