The Gainsville Sun recently ran an emotional op-ed by Dianne Caridi, a 39-year-old mother of two young children who is fighting Stage IV lung cancer. In addition to being both devastating and inspiring, the article raises some important issues about the stigma which surrounds lung cancer.
Recalling her diagnosis with Stage III cancer is September 2008, Caridi reports, "The first question almost everyone asked was, did I smoke? I did not. The truth is no one deserves this; not smokers, not anyone."
Here, Caridi refers to the stigma associated with lung cancer, which is that it is solely a "smokers' disease," and anyone who gets the disease must have brought the illness on his or herself. After all, the stigma implies, who is dumb enough to smoke anymore, knowing all that we know about the risks? And why should we give money to research a disease brought on only by a foolish habit?
First of all, as we noted in our previous blog posting, 15 to 20 of every 100 patients who have lung cancer are lifelong nonsmokers. Should their diagnosis be a virtual death sentence because we don't want to invest in research and finding a cure for a "smokers' disease?"
Furthermore, many people who are diagnosed with lung cancer today actually quit smoking many years ago. Some of them had picked up the habit as children or teens. Many started back when the dangers of smoking were not clearly known.
Finally, there are still many people who are "dumb enough" to start smoking. Smoking is still glamorized in film and on television, and smoking still seems "cool" to some people. And people who pick up a cigarette because they think it looks "cool" might not be able to put that cigarette back down, since nicotine can be even more addictive than cocaine.
We must no longer tolerate a "blame the victime" mentality when it comes to lung cancer. We need to invest in research and find a cure. We owe it to people who, like Dianne Caridi, never smoked. But we also owe it to all those people who quit smoking yet are still at risk, and to all those who are still addicted.
Click here to read Dianne Caridi's op-ed in The Gainsville Sun.
