THE LUNG TIMES

Catching My Breath on March 6, 2008

Dear Friends:

Today is a big day. It is the 2nd anniversary of our foundation.

Cheers to all of you for helping to make a difference. For decades, most of the world has ignored Lung Cancer; the pathetically unacceptable 15.5% survival rate today is the same as it was 40 years ago. But thanks to you, we’ve made a seismic shift.

There’s no stopping us now. We started with one goal two years ago: we won’t slow down until we eradicate Lung Cancer.

We’ve just returned from a whirlwind trip to champion our message in Washington D.C., New York City, and Atlanta. Our aim was to rally the forces and cement connections with alliance partners committed to our goal. View slideshow here:

Or click here for a higher-quality version.

Special thanks to Dr. Paul Scheinberg at St. Joseph’s Hospital for connecting us with many from the Gaeta’s to Nancy Grace.
On March 17th, I’ll also celebrate my 4th year as a Lung Cancer survivor.

Thanks for joining me in making a difference.

Bonnie J. Addario

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” —Marian Wright Edelman

Top Stories on Our Tri-City Crusade to Fight Lung Cancer, One Step at a Time

Steppin’ Out in Atlanta

Connecting Family Ties: Dr. Deborah Morosini (sister of Dana Reeve) and her family joined our family to support the Joan Gaeta Foundation at their first annual dinner gala in honor of their mom, Joan, who passed away last July. View the Joan Gaeta video here:

We also had a chance to celebrate the launch of the Florence Hays Erb Clinical Specialty Center at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta. Our friend Bill Erb founded the center in honor of his beloved wife, Florence Hays Erb.

Stepping Up in New York City

Tuning in to the Global Fight Against Lung Cancer: The February 25th Nancy Grace show featured Bonnie and Deborah Morosini, MD, exposing the underfunding of Lung Cancer and the quest for early detection. Thank you, Nancy. The phones have been ringing off the hook from Baton Rouge to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to little towns in Texas, and all over the country.

A Ticket to Ride: Bonnie and team rode the subways in Manhattan to check out the DemandACatScan campaign.

CancerCare: As invited guests, we joined the crowd at the CancerCare’s 25th Annual Human Services Awards Dinner.

The Breakfast Club: We swapped stories from the battleground frontlines with fellow Lung Cancer advocates Susan Mantel from Joan’s Legacy, Barbara Freundlich, Regina Vidaver from National Lung Cancer Partnership, Beth Ada Stern from Lungevity, Angie Morrissey from Thomas G. LaBrecque Foundation, and Win Boerkel from CancerCare.

Stepping Forward in Washington, D.C.

Senate Resolution 87: While we wait for movement on this resolution, we met with Senator Chuck Hagel, Resolution 87’s main author, declaring Lung Cancer a national health priority and ordering health agencies to develop a comprehensive, coordinated program to cut the Lung Cancer mortality rate in half by 2015. Thank you, Senator Hagel, for your continued support.

Partners in Crime Against Lung Cancer: We explored and discussed strategies for the year ahead with Lung Cancer Alliance. Thank you to Laurie Fenton-Ambrose and Sheila Ross for hosting us and presenting what we can do together to continue to make a difference.

This campaign was generously donated by CBS Outdoor and anonymous patrons. Now running in San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

VIEW LARGER VERSION

The Summit for Survival coincided with the second annual “Simply the Best” dinner gala at the Fairmont Hotel on the evening of November, 9, 2007, emcee’d by Cheryl Jennings. The evening honored the work of Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Hagel. With a special tribute to Dana Reeve and her family, Deborah Morosini, MD, accepted the Dr. Fred Marcus SIMPLY THE BEST Award for her outstanding work as a BJALC Foundation Board Member in the fight to end lung cancer.

Fortune Magazine lauded Michael Milken as a leading champion in medical advances. Milken—who also founded the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world’s largest source of support for prostate cancer research—was the Summit keynote speaker followed by panelists of leading scientists, physicians and lung cancer researchers, government officials, survivors and patient advocates from points throughout the globe: Barcelona, Spain, Switzerland, France, Germany to New York City, California and around the world again. Co-chairs included Dr. Claudia Henschke, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College; David M. Jablons, MD ,Co-Founder of the BJALC Foundation and Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery, Ada Distinguished Professor of Thoracic Oncology at UCSF, David Gandara, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine and Associate Director of Clinical Research, and the Director of Thoracic Oncology at the University of California, Davis Cancer Center, and Rafael Rosell, MD, PhD Chief Medical Oncology Service and Scientific Director of Oncology Research at the Institut Catala d’Onocologia, Hospital Germans Trias I Pujol, Barcelona, Spain.

The Summit considered answers to the question, “If money for research and development was not a barrier, and a true collaboration of academic medicine, entrepreneurial biotech and pharmaceutical companies could be achieved, what would be the immediate next steps needed to reach a cure in the least amount of time and how much would it cost?”

Panel discussions were facilitated by former CNN News Anchor Carol Lin and Wells Whitney, Chair of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Thoracic Cabinet and Chair of the BJALCF Scientific Advisory Board, in the areas of Early Detection, Imaging and Diagnostics, Biomarkers and Molecular Diagnostics, Basic Research, Cell Pathways, Targeted Therapies, Systems Biology, Clinical Trials, Targeted Diagnostics, Collaborations, Partnerships, Consortia and Funding. Panelists included Allan Balmain, PhD, FRSE, UCSF Cancer Center, Jill M.Siegfried, PhD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD, Matthew Meyerson, MD, PhD and Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Monte M. Winslow, PhD, MIT Center for Cancer Research, Joan H. Schiller, MD, University of Texas Southwestern, Ravi Salgia, PhD, MD, University of Chicago, Mark G. Kris, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Steven M. Keller, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Suzy Jones and Gwen Fyfe, Genentech, Gary Kelloff, MD, National Institutes of Health, James and Jeffrey Dao, Genyous Biomed, James L. Mulshine, Rush University Medical Center, Don Listwin and Chana Palmer, PhD, Canary Foundation, Stephen Lam, MD, FRCPC, University of British Columbia, Melissa Lim, MD, Redwood Pulmonary Medical Associates, David P. Carbone, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt Cancer Center, Fred S. Marcus, MD, Sequoia Hospital, Harvey Pass, MD, NYU School of Medicine and many more.

An executive committee is being formed comprised of representatives from biotech, pharma, basic sciences and clinical sciences to create this viable and fundable strategic business plan for Lung Cancer.

Upon successful completion of the plan, the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation will commit to assemble a group of funders to underwrite this plan as expeditiously as possible.

Sequoia Hospital, in partnership with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, announced today, January 7, 2007, the opening of the Sequoia Hospital Lung Cancer Early Detection program. The hope of the Lung Cancer Early Detection program is to prolong survival.

“If I can save one life by creating greater awareness and encouraging early detection, then I’ve succeeded,” said Bonnie J. Addario, Sequoia Hospital lung cancer survivor and founder of the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to eradicating lung cancer.

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for both men and women. In 2008 there will be approximately 213,380 new cases of lung cancer in the United States: 114,780 among men and 98,620 among women. Approximately 160,390 will die of this disease. More people die of lung cancer than of breast, prostate, colon, liver, melanoma, and kidney cancers combined.

Sequoia is very excited to have a new lung cancer early detection program and give our community the opportunity to be diagnosed early,” said Glenna Vaskelis, Sequoia Hospital President. “Partnering with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation is the kind of collaboration Sequoia is known for. A community hospital partnering with a community foundation creates new opportunities and unique programs for our patients and families.”

Sequoia’s Lung Cancer Early Detection program has been accepted as a participating member of the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP).

I-ELCAP, organized and administered under the direction of the Weill College of Medicine of Cornell University, is the first research study of its kind involving a large number of hospitals in the United States and Europe that are evaluating the effectiveness of screening for lung cancer with low-dose CT Scanning. Sequoia is proud to offer the opportunity for early lung cancer detection to all of those individuals known to be at risk via their participation in the I-ELCAP program and also be able to provide medical evaluation for any other individual who has concerns regarding their individual risk for developing lung cancer.

“Bonnie is a tireless advocate for early detection of lung cancer,” said Fred Marcus, MD, Sequoia Hospital oncologist, Bonnie’s personal physician and the principal investigator for the I-ELCAP study at Sequoia. “When she suggested a partnership to create a lung cancer early detection program at Sequoia with participation in I-ELCAP, we listened. Being able to offer the opportunity for early lung cancer detection, whether as part of the I-ELCAP study or through a detailed medical evaluation, is reflective of our comprehensive and integrated approach to lung cancer diagnosis and treatment at Sequoia Hospital.”

Overseeing the Lung Cancer Early Detection program is dedicated Program Coordinator, Kate Tully, R.N., B.S.N. Sequoia has developed a comprehensive care plan for all those who contact Kate Tully with questions about screening or have other clinical concerns regarding their risk for lung cancer. With the Lung Cancer Early Detection program, Sequoia continues its long commitment to providing world class care in a community setting.

“Sequoia is so thankful and appreciative of Bonnie’s support for this new program,” said Melissa Lim, MD, pulmonologist and medical director of the program. “Her philanthropy and vision are truly heartfelt.”

The Sequoia Hospital Lung Cancer program, in a unique collaboration with physicians from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center, offers Bay Area lung cancer patients a comprehensive, dedicated multidisciplinary approach to lung cancer treatment. The early detection program is just one facet of Sequoia’s Lung Cancer program.

Sequoia Hospital is partnering with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation on a local level to assist them in ultimately achieving their larger goals of establishing multiple early detection sites across the nation.

For more information call Sequoia’s Lung Cancer Early Detection program at (650) 367-LUNG (5864).

About Sequoia Hospital
Sequoia Hospital is an accredited, not-for-profit community hospital providing innovative and exceptional healthcare to Bay Area residents. Sequoia, ranked among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide, is a recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical ExcellenceTM, based on a study issued by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings company. Offering a full range of medical, surgical and specialty programs, Sequoia also ranks in the top percentile of hospitals nationwide for patient satisfaction.

“Best in California for Coronary Interventional Procedures” in 2008 is another HealthGrades rating for Sequoia Hospital, which also received the HealthGrades 2008 Cardiac Care Excellence Award and 2008 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award. To learn more, please visit Sequoia Hospital.

Sequoia Hospital is partnering with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation on a local level to assist them in ultimately achieving their larger goals of establishing multiple early detection sites across the nation.
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JUST BECAUSE you never smoked, don’t think you won’t get lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women in the United States, accounting for 30 percent of all cancer deaths. It takes more lives than breast, prostate, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancer combined.

Its link to smoking has made lung cancer an underdiagnosed and underfunded disease. With 15 percent of these 173,000 annual deaths attributed to nonsmokers, it is time for that to change.

The untimely death of Dana Reeve has brought attention to the fact that there is an increase of lung cancer in nonsmokers, especially in women. Eighty percent of all nonsmoking lung cancer patients are women.

Up until then there was an inextricable link between lung cancer and smoking in the minds of the public and for many doctors as well. There was an assumption that if you never smoked or smoked a minimal amount, you would be immune from lung cancer. This connection linking smoking and lung cancer created a stigma around the disease. The perception that patients with lung cancer brought it on themselves affects the degree of empathy they receive compared to other cancers. And most important, it affects both its early detection and its funding for research.

Today lung cancer needs to be on the radar screen for everyone, not just people who smoke. Doctors, especially primary care physicians, need to be more suspicious when nonsmokers exhibit symptoms that can include a persistent cough, shortness of breath, repeated attacks of pneumonia or bronchitis, wheezing or hoarseness, and an increased amount of sputum or sputum streaked with blood.

Often the disease goes undetected because of the lack of symptoms until the disease is in its later stages. Other types of cancer that have diagnostic testing have greatly improved survival rates. Compare lung cancer with its survival rate of 15 percent for five years, to breast cancer at 89 percent, prostate cancer at 99 percent, and colon cancer at 64 percent.

The research dollars don’t reflect the prevalence of lung cancer, which kills twice as many women as breast cancer. In 2004, the American Cancer Society spent an estimated $130 million on research, with $29 million tabbed for breast cancer and only $12 million for lung cancer. In 2003, the federal government spent $14,045 per breast cancer death and $10,761 per prostate cancer death on research. In contrast, for each lung cancer death, only $1,632 went toward research.

There needs to be more funding devoted to lung cancer, its epidemiology, its prevention, and hopefully its cure. We need to know what factors in addition to smoking cause lung cancer so we can do more in terms of prevention.

Reprinted with permission from Meryl L. Bralower