A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Plea from a "Breath Cancer" Survivor

Tuesday October 13, 2009 by Lori Hope (First published on www.beliefnet.com.) It's challenging to be a "Breath" Cancer survivor during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What's "Breath" Cancer? It's the cancer that attacks the organ behind the breast, the organ we cannot live without. Its proper name is Lung Cancer. But I prefer to call it "Breath" Cancer, because it literally and permanently takes the breath from a jumbo jet-full of people every day. I bet you're wondering if I smoked. Did you know that up to 20% of people with "Breath" Cancer never smoked, 60% don't currently smoke, and most of us wince at the question? People don't ask Breast Cancer survivors whether they're overweight or drank wine (raises the risk), exercised (lowers risk), or got regular mammograms. Is this partly because Breast Cancer is sexualized? As the new "Save the Boobs" PSA shows, breasts are beautiful. And the thought of losing them? Terrifying. No blame, no shame to Breast Cancer. Not so with "Breath" Cancer. Although it's usually caused by smoking -- which like overeating, is a lifestyle choice -- most fighting the disease don't smoke. But that shouldn't matter anyway. Cancer is cancer. I lost one friend to Breast, another to Colon, another to "Breath" Cancer. Did one deserve to live more than the other? It's challenging to be a "Breath" Cancer survivor during October because everyone cares so vocally about Breast Cancer. And although "Breath" Cancer kills twice as many women, during Lung Cancer Awareness Month (November), you won't see invisible ribbons (the non-color of Breath Cancer) used to hawk everything from tissues to tampons. Stigma has kept Breath Cancer deplorably underfunded. And that's why only 15% of us live longer than five years. That's unfair. So please. Care. And by the way, yes, I smoked, but quit almost 20 years before my diagnosis. Regardless, don't I deserve to live? Lori Hope is the author of the top-rated cancer support book, Help Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to Know, and speaks and blogs about how to help people facing cancer and other life challenges. For more information, see LoriHope.com.