Never Smoker Lung Cancer Survivor Shares Vital Message

As a healthy and generally active person, you never think you’re going to get drastically ill. As a non-smoker, you especially don’t think you’re going to get lung cancer. So when complications from a colonoscopy lead to the discovery of my lung cancer, I was completely shocked.

I am in the minority of people who have never smoked but get lung cancer, and I am also in the minority of the people who get lung cancer and survive. The five-year survival rate of lung cancer is a heartbreaking 17 percent – compared to a 90 percent breast cancer survival rate and a near 100 percent prostate cancer survival rate.

My experience taught me never to take life for granted and because of it I aim to help others experiencing this terrible disease. That’s why I’m participating in the 11th Annual Philadelphia Free to Breathe event this Sunday, November 6 in Fairmount Park. The few survivors there are need to speak up for those who lost their lives to lung cancer so we can raise funds and awareness and find a cure, especially during November, which is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

- Lauren Taverna, Plymouth Meeting