Lung cancer took my mother in 1987. She was 42 years old.
By the time doctors had diagnosed her, the cancer had already spread. She died three months later in a hospital bed as my brother, stepfather and I slept in the waiting room. I was 14 years old at the time. I remember the shock: not only of losing her, but of losing her so fast.
Back then, treatment of lung cancer looked very different. Surgery, radiation and traditional chemotherapy were the mainstays. Today, doctors can also prescribe drugs that attack specific genetic changes in tumors or immunotherapy that helps the body recognize and attack cancer cells. Tumors can be tested for genetic mutations, and radiation now uses more modern imaging and delivery methods.
At the time my mother had lung cancer, U.S. death rates from the disease were about 56 per 100,000 people, according to data from the National Cancer Institute. Today, that number is about 30 per 100,000. The decline reflects decades of falling smoking rates, along with advances in detection and treatment.
As I interviewed several doctors for this cancer care issue, what struck me hardest is how many risk factors for cancer are within our control. Avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption, getting vaccines and screenings, maintaining a healthy diet and weight and staying active can all help reduce the chances of getting cancer.
If you know me well, you know I like my vodka and club sodas. The goal isn’t to give up every single vice; it’s to make an effort to lower your odds. Take smoking, which causes an estimated 86% of all lung cancers in the US, according to American Cancer Society. Research has found that the risk of lung cancer drops by half 10 years after quitting.
My mom wasn’t a smoker. OK, she had a cigarette from time to time, from what I remember, but she didn’t smoke daily. Other factors that can cause lung cancer include radon gas, secondhand smoke, outdoor air pollution, asbestos and genetic mutations.
In 2026, an estimated 229,410 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with lung cancer, and 124,990 will die from the disease.
I started to think of my own mortality after I had kids, and especially after I passed the age my mother was when she died. That’s when I really understood how young she was. Reporting this issue made me wonder whether she would have had more time if she were diagnosed today.
The progress in lung cancer doesn’t guarantee a happy story ending. But it offers something my family had little of in 1987; more possibilities, and more hope.
