California News Observer features cCARE’s Lung Cancer Awareness Month campaign
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, and cCARE is doing its part to educate the public on how to prevent the disease. In 2021 alone an estimated 235,760 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in the United States. More Americans die of lung cancer than prostate, breast and colorectal cancers combined.
Dr. Joel Lamon is a medical oncologist at cCARE’s San Diego clinic, who believes screening and prevention can help save individuals from dying from lung cancer.
“I often see patients whose diagnosis of lung cancer occurred too late for it to be cured,” said Dr. Lamon. “Sharing tips for prevention and increasing efforts to identify the disease early can help decrease the number of lives lost each year to this cancer.”
Prevention of lung cancer is best achieved by quitting smoking or never smoking to begin with. Almost 9 out of 10 lung cancer fatalities are caused by secondhand smoke exposure or smoking tobacco products. However, smoking isn’t the only cause of lung cancer. cCARE patient Carole Berwick sought treatment from Dr. Lamon after she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
“I’d never smoked,” Berwick explained. “Not even in high school. Not even my parents smoked! The last thing I ever thought could happen to me was lung cancer. It was unbelievable. I felt like someone needed to pinch me and wake me up.”
Dr. Lamon told her she was beyond many of the normal cancer treatment options,.”But he explained that today there are many new lung cancer treatment options available,” said Berwick. “He recommended a targeted therapy medication that I’ve been taking ever since, and I’ll soon be celebrating six years since being diagnosed.”