Learning about Lung Cancer
- When lung cancer survivor Tracey Ketch struggled with a persistent cough and shortness of breath, she was told she had a chest infection multiple times. Now the non-smoker is sharing her story to educate others about the disease.
- Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer and it can develop in both smokers and non-smokers, but people who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who don't smoke.
- Still, the CDC reports that about 10 to 20 percent of lung cancers in the United States, or 20,000 to 40,000 lung cancers each year, happen in people who've never smoked.
Before her diagnosis, Ketch was struggling with a persistent cough and shortness of breath. But the non-smoker says four separate trips to her general practitioner led to the diagnoses of chest infections. Even when she underwent two X-rays in 2019, the then-49-year-old mother of two was given the “all-clear.”
Read More“I think my case highlights how easy it is to slip through the net if you have lung cancer but are otherwise healthy and a non-smoker.”
Ketch struggled to accept her diagnosis after all of the all clears she’d been given, but now she’s doing better after medication stopped the growth of her tumor. That being said, she’ll likely undergo more intense treatment in the future.
"I am stable at present, which means the cancer isn't growing, which is of course positive, but I don't like to ask about too far ahead,” she said. “I know there will be a time when the tablets stop having a positive impact and I may have to look at chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
"But I choose to live in the here and now and not worry. It is how I cope. I've also wanted to make sure lessons are learned."
Understanding Lung Cancer
Lung cancer, the second most common type of cancer, is the leading cause of cancer deaths for men and women in the United States. Diagnosis and treatment of the disease can be tricky since symptoms often don't appear until the cancer has spread.
An initial symptom, for example, could be as serious as a seizure if the lung cancer has already spread to the brain. But other symptoms can include increased coughing, chest pain, unexplained weight loss, shortness of breath, wheezing, losing your voice or persistent infections like bronchitis or pneumonia.
The two main types of lung cancer are non-small cell, which makes up 85 percent of cases, and small-cell. These types act differently and, accordingly, require different types of treatment.
Dr. Patrick Forde, a thoracic oncologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells SurvivorNet about how distinguishing between the two types and their subtypes can be very beneficial.
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"Within that non-small cell category, there's a subtype called non-squamous adenocarcinoma, and that's the group of patients for whom genetic testing is very important on the tumor," he explains. "Genetic testing is looking for mutations in the DNA, in the tumor, which are not present in your normal DNA."
Lung Cancer for Non-Smokers
Declining smoking rates have lead to an improved outlook for lung cancer since cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for the disease. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention states that cigarette smoking is linked to about 80 to 90 percent of lung cancer deaths, and people who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who don't smoke.
It's important to remember, however, that even people who've never smoked before can still get lung cancer. The CDC reports that, in the United States, about 10 to 20 percent of lung cancers, or 20,000 to 40,000 lung cancers each year, happen in people who've never smoked.
"Some lung cancers are from unknown exposure to air pollution, radon, or asbestos," Dr. Raja Flores, system chair of thoracic surgery at Mount Sinai previously told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. "We also see more never-smokers with lung cancer who have a family history of it."
Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer. It's responsible for anywhere from 3 to 16 percent of cancer cases depending on the levels present in a given area, according to the World Health Organization, but smokers are still 25 times more at risk from radon than non-smokers.
Another possibility for the cause of lung cancer in a non-smoker can be second-hand smoke. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 7,000 adults die of lung cancer annually from breathing secondhand smoke.
Air pollution, family history, HIV or AIDs can also all impact the chances of a non-smoker getting lung cancer. No matter what, it's important to not rule out the disease just because you don't smoke a fact that Donna Hunting knows all too well.
Just like Griffin, Hunting was a non-smoker when she was diagnosed with lung cancer. But the active 54-year-old's cancer had progressed further given that she had stage four non-small cell lung cancer.
If You Have Lungs, You Can Get Lung Cancer Survivor Donna Hunting Shares Her Story
"That day was shattering to my family and to me," she previously told SurvivorNet. "It's not a smokers' disease. If you have lungs, you can get lung cancer."
Fortunately for Hunting, testing revealed that her tumors had a mutation in a specific gene called EGFR. This meant that doctors were able to give her a pill to block those mutations and effectively rid her body of the disease.
"After 50 days, miraculously, my PET scan showed no evidence of disease," she said.
Hunting took the drug for over a year, until it stopped working as well. Now she's on a different daily medication, but thanks to advancements in treatment she's able to live with the disease.
"Cancer is a part of my life now, but it isn't my whole life. I'm not letting cancer define me," Hunting said.
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