Saturday, November 1, 2008

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month


Lung Cancer research is terribly underfunded even though billions of dollars of taxes are taken every year from smokers. It is time that these funds are directed, as they were intended, to pay for healthcare. The Healing Project advocates a small portion of these funds be allocated to Lung Cancer research and diagnosis. This new funding would represent a leap in an order of magintude and bring this scourge to an end.

Lung Cancer Facts
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
Lung cancer causes 30% of all cancer deaths.
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer among Caucasians, African-Americans, Asians and Hispanic males.
In 2007, an estimated 213,380 people were diagnosed with lung cancer and 160,390 died from it.

Lung cancer will kill more people this year than:
• breast cancer
• prostate cancer
• colon cancer
• liver cancer
• kidney cancer
• melanoma...combined

The 5-year survival rate for…
• Breast cancer has reached 88%
• Prostate cancer – 99%
• Colon cancer – 63%
• Lung Cancer – 15%!

Lung cancer will kill three times as many men as prostate cancer this year.
Lung cancer will kill nearly twice as many women as breast cancer this year.
Over 50% of new lung cancer cases will be diagnosed at a very late stage—Stage IIIb or IV— and only 5% of them will live for 5 years.
Current smokers represent 35-40% of new lung cancer cases.
Former smokers represent 50% of new lung cancer cases.
People who never smoked represent 10-15% of new lung cancer cases.
The rate of lung cancer among women has risen 60% since 1990.
Lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the #1 cancer killer of women in 1987.
31,000 more women will die of lung cancer than breast cancer this year.
3 out of 5 patients diagnosed with lung cancer will die within 12 months.
Only 15% of lung cancer patients will be diagnosed early enough to survive for five years or more, compared with 5-year survival rates of 88% for breast cancer, 100% for prostate cancer, and 64% for colon cancer.
Despite lung cancer being the #1 cancer killer, roughly $1,800 is spent per lung cancer death compared to around $23,000 per breast cancer death for research!

Sources:
The Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation
Joan's Legacy
Lung Cancer Alliance

Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Lung Cancer Alliance
1747 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 1150
Washington, DC 20006
(800) 298-2436 Lung Cancer Information Line
(202) 463-2080
info@lungcanceralliance.org
www.lungcanceralliance.org
Materials available
Contact: Kay Cofrancesco

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