Women and Lung Cancer: A Deadly Combination

Shira Kupperman Boehler, then just 43 years old, went for a full-body MRI for a baseline picture of her health. When a small spot appeared on her lung, she followed up with a low-dose CT scan, right after returning from a six-mile run. She thought the scan would rule out anything serious. Instead, it led to a diagnosis of aggressive early-stage lung cancer and surgery to remove half her right lung.“This whole journey was scary, and I felt physically terrible after the surgery, but I soon realized I was very lucky to get diagnosed at such an early stage,” Kupperman Boehler said. “But I’m not unique in my diagnosis. This is not a rare cancer.”Read: Even Though I Had No Symptoms, I Found My Lung Cancer Early Enough to Treat It >>As the leading cancer killer worldwide, lung cancer is anything but rare. In fact, in the United States, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, accounting for about 1 in 5 of all cancer deaths. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than of colon, breast and prostate cancers combined.The American Cancer Society (ACS) reports that lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women in the United States. Only skin cancers occur...