The number one cause of lung cancer is –surprise-surprise- cigarette smoking. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds and smoking causes around 90% of the lung cancers.
Stay away from second-hand smoke as much as possible too. An estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths a year are attributed to passive smoking (inhaling the smoke of other people’s cigarettes). If you are smoking, quit. If you haven’t started, don’t. That’s the best form of protection available. Most other factors that cause cancer are beyond a person’s control, including family health history, personal health history, and air pollution.
Final Thought
Anyone with a lung cancer diagnosis should try to get the most out of life everyday, no matter what the prognosis is.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; you’re thinking that people who have never been in your shoes don’t know how it is. And you’re right, they don’t. But I do. I’m a survivor of Acute Lymphoctytic Leukemia, so I do know what it’s like to lie awake at night and wonder what will happen to your child if you don't wake up in the morning, I do what it's like to have a low point when all you want to do is say a few unsavory curse words and give up, I do know how chemotherapy and its side effects feel.
I also know that I value each day more than I did before, that each moment that I'm still breathing I am happy, and that material goods are highly overrated. And if I might take the liberty of ending this piece with a bit of advice for any cancer-fighters out there...
Spend time with the ones you love, and the ones that love you—even if they aren’t the same group. And keep on believing in miracles.