Archive for the ‘Why You Should Care’ Category

Let’s Make It Old News!

May 11th, 2012 - by Juhi Kunde

At first, I was glad to see Saturday’s story in the Chicago Tribune, “Women who don’t smoke can still get lung cancer.”

Then the dread crept in: This was news!

In this digital age, newspaper editors have to work harder than ever to ensure the stories they run are exciting and unexpected. The best stories always have an element of surprise. The stories should be so unexpected that readers will share it on Facebook and tell their friends, “I had no idea… Did you?”

The Chicago Tribune has an audience of approximately 1.2 million people daily.  That’s a lot of people! And you can bet this metropolitan publication employs the best editors with their fingers firmly on the pulse of their city. Good editors know their readers’ interests and cater to their tastes and background.

So, perhaps I should be glad. Glad that the editor at the Chicago Tribune thought that the readers of the greater Chicago area would be interested in learning more about lung cancer. And maybe I should be grateful that this editor learned the statistics that so many LUNGevity supporters already know and decided to share them with others.

But I can’t help but worry that this story, which we all know so well, is still a surprising headline to so many people. T

Perhaps this article, which is an eye-opening piece for so many people, can open our eyes in a different way. While this article teaches others about the rates of lung cancer in nonsmokers, it also teaches us that our work is far from finished.

Right in our own backyard, people still think this is news!

I certainly appreciate that this article is helping to raise lung cancer awareness. But I also think it is powerful motivation to continue expanding our events and becoming LinkUp advocates.

Let’s work together to make this story old news!

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Cheeseburger, Fries and a Reality Check

April 12th, 2012 - by Juhi Kunde

I love In-N-Out burgers.

So I was thrilled to go there for dinner with my parents. While we waited for our order to be called, we sat in a booth and talked about work ─ their work and mine. Finally, when our food was ready, I unwrapped and bit into my cheeseburger. That was when my mom said, “I didn’t know there are different types of lung cancer.”

At first I thought she was joking.

That morning, I had just spent hours listening to panel discussion about lung cancer mutations that was recorded at a recent scientific meeting in Santa Monica. Five lung cancer experts talked about lung cancer mutations in terms of screening costs, ethnic probabilities and public policies. They threw around the names of different lung cancers like knife jugglers, knowing exactly where science had a good grasp on these cancers and where these cancers could dangerously evade treatment. The audience kept up with them and listeners submitted intelligent and detailed questions.

I ate a french fry and looked at my dad. He nodded, “Yeah, me neither.”

I was struck by the differences between my parents and the people involved with the webinar. But after thinking about it, I decided that it must be fairly common.

As we start to learn more about any topic, say sports cars, it is natural to assume that everyone around us is also learning about the nuances of steering columns and engine placements. We automatically start using slag and short-hand to discuss issues. And we don’t even mention the well-known caveats because, well, they are already known.

Lung cancer is no exception.

The more involved we get in the lung cancer community, the more it begins to feel like everyone is well-versed in the nuances of the disease. That’s why, from time to time, it is so important to step out of our community and discuss lung cancer with others. It is a great reality check for the importance of lung cancer awareness plus, it also provides the perfect opportunity to educate someone.

I put my cheeseburger down and took a sip of water to clear my throat.

It was time to do some explaining.

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The Impact of a Hiccup

March 7th, 2012 - by Juhi Kunde

My carpet needs to be vacuumed. Garbage cans linger on the curb. Clean laundry is piling up at the bottom of the stairs. Dishes are stacking up in the sink. Why? Because I went for a hike.

In our hectic, unrelenting lives, even the tiniest of hiccups can turn our days upside down. The daily demands of work, family and friends—don’t stop. Ever. And the momentum of life sometimes feels as though it’ll knock us to the ground and run us over, like a steam roller flattening a cartoon road runner.

Last weekend I sprained my ankle while I was hiking. A minor hiccup. It wasn’t even bad enough to see a doctor. “No sweat,” I told myself. “I know what to do: rest, ice, compress and elevate.”

But I failed to account for the momentum in my life.

This week is the last week to get early pre-school registration and of course, I hadn’t visited all the schools that I wanted to see. So, I found myself hobbling around from school to school in the rain. Not to mention shuttling my daughter to her weekly play dates and activities. I abandoned the less urgent matters and opted to rest when I could.

The result?

My carpet has colorful cracker crumbs mashed down into the fibers. The garbage cans are now rolling around in the street. And a dish tower just collapsed with a worrisome ‘crunch’.

Plus, my ankle still hurts.

Now, I am certainly not comparing a sprained ankle to lung cancer. But I have been thinking that if this minor glitch in my health has put my household into such a state of disarray, what would happen when someone has a major health issue which leaves them (even partially) incapacitated for weeks or months? Who brings in their garbage cans?

Enter the caregivers. Those often-thanked and seldom-helped people who know that just putting out the garbage cans isn’t enough.

And what happens when a caregiver sprains an ankle?

I shudder to imagine…

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DIY Healthcare is Here

January 12th, 2012 - by Juhi Kunde

2012 is an exciting year ─ full of promise and innovation. I am ready to get moving! And I’m not alone. People are dropping pounds, getting married, and nurturing their fledgling companies. And they are doing it without diet pills, prenuptial agreements or risky loans. They are doing things by themselves. So, it’s not a big surprise to find that #2 trend for 2012 is a new do-it-yourself area: “DIY Health” according to Trendwatching.com.

DIY Health is an emerging trend which uses new gadgets, apps and technologies to help people improve their health through prevention, early detection, monitoring and low-cost diagnosis. I wanted to share a few of these cutting-edge health apps that, in my opinion, could spark meaningful change.

  • To prevent hearing loss and to raise awareness of loud sounds, there is the “Play It Down” app which lets friends compare the sensitivity of their hearing and measure the volume of sounds around them. I know I’ve certainly been to concerts and wondered if I was too close to the speakers…
  • Was that mole shaped like Illinois or Texas? The “Skin Scan” app helps us remember. By allowing people to scan and monitor the progression of their moles, this application could help detect skin cancer earlier when it is most treatable.
  • Trying to convince someone to quit smoking and reduce their risk of lung cancer? The “Lungs” app could help. It allows people to input their age and the number of cigarettes smoked to show the lung damage caused by cigarettes and to estimate the time it takes for the lungs to heal.

But my pick for most inspirational DIY Health app goes to…

  • The groundbreaking app from Lifelens which tells people if they have malaria with 94% accuracy. All they need to do is prick a finger to get a blood drop, mix the blood with a special dye and then use a smartphone equipped with a high magnification lens. The app takes a picture of the blood, magnifies it and identifies malarial parasites. This technology could revolutionize healthcare clinics in rural Africa and beyond.

The most amazing part? There are many more mind-blowing technologies on the horizon.

Maybe in a few years we will be coughing into a special tissue to check if we have lung cancer. Or maybe someone will devise a way to detect early lung cancer biomarkers using a drop of blood and a smartphone.

This is not science-fiction! This could be our future. It is within our reach.

By working together with LUNGevity to fund innovative research, we can make it our reality.

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