We are now about half way through Lung Cancer Awareness Month and I couldn't help but feel a little defeated when I saw the news this morning. In the America we live in, Kim Kardashian can attempt to "break the internet" by exposing herself with full frontal and backside nudity, while people like me struggle to be heard. If lung cancer, with its harsh statistics and stigma, could get half the attention she does from one photo, imagine how much more awareness could be raised? If lung cancer could get a portion of the millions of dollars she makes to "document" her life and expose herself, how many more lives could we save? If lung cancer could pursuade major media networks to pay it nearly as much attention as they do to one photo of Kardashian, imagine how much change we could make toward the nation's deadliest cancer killer.
This post will not generate as much attention as Kim Kardashian's ass. Tomorrow, folks won't be gathered around the water cooler talking about lung cancer and how we have to do all we can to change it and fast! The fact that lung cancer is being diagnosed more and more in young, never smokers won't be the breaking news on the Today Show. But, if you're reading this, just take a moment to imagine...
You've just been told you have cancer. You take a deep breath, then it hits you. Lung cancer. Your heart stops. You are told you have 6 months to 2 years to live. A day, a moment, is not guaranteed. As you slowly begin to breath in and out, you take a look around. You realize all that you see is transient.
Suddenly, that photo of Kim Kardashian doesn't seem as important any more, does it?
To donate to Lung Cancer Research or JOIN the "I Won't Quit" campaign, please click here: http://jointhefight.yournextstepisthecure.org
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