5th Annual LUNGevity National HOPE Summit
What is it?
I am home now from an AWESOME weekend that was spent in Washington, DC at the LUNGevity National HOPE Summit. It is held for lung cancer survivors and their caregivers every year. This year was the 5th anniversary. The event has grown from 17 survivors meeting in a small room to over 150 survivors, plus their caregivers, meeting in a large ballroom.Lung cancer survivors who are attending for the first time are provided with the opportunity to apply for a generous grant that pays for airfare and hotel costs. Wow! What an opportunity!!
http://lungevity.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=1080&eventID=534
Lots of HOPE
It was fascinating being in the ballroom with so many lung cancer survivors. We spanned many years. One gorgeous young lady is only 24 ... and she's already recovered from having part of a lung removed due to lung cancer. There were way too many young people there in their 20s, 30s, 40s ... and then there were some of us who were older, too. Young, old, skinny, fat ... black, white, yellow, brown ... cancer does not care. It attacks us all.
No matter the age, race, nationality, or religion, the group as a whole was the most cheerful, hopeful group ever. Considering we are fighting the most deadly form of cancer there is, that's remarkable in and of itself!
LUNGevity has trademarked May as Lung Cancer HOPE Month. We are hoping to raise awareness through a "What Takes Your Breath Away?" video campaign. I don't think it will catch on among most of my friends ... I'm sorry, they just are not all that supportive of this particular fight. I don't really know why that is the case. Regardless, I am hopeful that it will gain popularity among others so that more people will be aware that lung cancer happens to people with lungs, not just smokers. (See below)
It was wonderful to hear doctors and scientists at the HOPE Summit talk about the new treatments that are coming down the pike. It is sad that lung cancer is so poorly funded. It kills more people than any other cancer. In fact, during 2015, it is expected to be responsible for 27% of all cancer deaths among men and women. (http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@editorial/documents/document/acspc-044552.pdf)
According to the American Cancer Society publication (link above), 44% of lung cancer patients will survive one year. Only 17% are expected to survive for five years. For late-stage cancers like mine, only 26% survive a year and 4% make five years.
I am so fortunate. My traditional chemo regimen quit working about 7 months into my diagnosis. Were it not for the clinical trial I got into, I would have probably been one of the 74% who don't survive a year. But, because of research and new technologies, specifically, immunotherapy, in my case, I am hopeful I will be in the 4% that are still alive and well five years after diagnosis.
But, I disgress ... back to the Summit!
The packed room was filled with people who were quick to laugh, cheer, and tell their stories. Despite challenges, I don't think there was anyone there who was not filled with lots of HOPE. Doctors and scientists were hopeful, too! Lung cancer research needs much, MUCH more funding, but even with limited research dollars, the scientists and doctors are making tremendous strides. It is so exciting to hear about targeted therapies that attack just the bad cells and immunotherapy that works by building up the cancer patient's own immune system so that it can fend off the cancer. Anyone who has ever suffered through chemo knows how exciting it is that there are drugs available or coming soon that don't send you to bed, wondering if treatment is worse than just dying from cancer.
I am sad that I didn't take pictures at the National HOPE Summit. I was so involved in listening and chatting with others who have "been there done that," that I never got my camera out of my purse. But, I've seen lots of pictures that other people took. And the smiles are infectious!!! People were having FUN all through the hotel!
Lung Cancer Awareness Campaign
So, LUNGevity is hoping the lung cancer awareness campaign will go viral. I mentioned it above, but wanted to both provide more information for those of you who might wish to participate and to post my first attempt. I decided today that I was going to try to do several. There are LOTS of things that take my breath away besides lung cancer. I'm going to try to highlight several of them. Some of my friends will probably be tempted to start blocking my Facebook posts because they are going to be tired of hearing about lung cancer. But, it is just that important to get the word out. Lung cancer is not a disease to ignore. It just isn't.
To learn more about the campaign, go to http://www.lungevity.org/support-survivorship/lung-cancer-hope-month . Please, please, PLEASE consider participating. The more people who will jump on the bandwagon, the better.
I'd be surprised if anyone reading this blog hasn't been impacted at some point by lung cancer ... a grandparent, parent, sibling, or friend or friend's family ... lung cancer is so common that almost everyone knows someone who has or has had lung cancer.
Let's get the word out that:
- No one, absolutely NO ONE, deserves to have any kind of cancer, INCLUDING lung cancer.
- Smokers are NOT the only people who get lung cancer. Young, athletic people who never smoked are being diagnosed way too frequently. Sadly, doctors are MOST likely to let their cases go on and on before diagnosis ... even doctors are influenced by the old campaigns that blamed smoking alone for lung cancer.
- There is HOPE!!! There is not as much as I wish there was, but there is hope. And if we could get more $$$$ directed toward lung cancer research, that hope would be multiplied many times over. It is incredible what our research community has done with such limited funding. It could grow exponentially if we could get more money to them.
My First Attempt
I tried doing a selfie video this afternoon for about an hour. I never really got anything worth publishing. I may set up my good camera on its tripod and try again tomorrow or Wednesday. In the meantime, here's what I've come up with for my "What Takes My Breath Away" video:
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