Getting a horrible cough that won’t go away is something most of us have experienced at one point or another. Nancy Vandespool can relate to having a terrible cough—except her cough lasted approximately 3 years. It wasn’t until she had severe back pain and started coughing blood, that this led her to visit the hospital where she was diagnosed with not only kidney stones, but also non-small cell lung cancer.
“I was shocked, I even called the doctor a liar because I couldn’t believe it. I never smoked and I always associated lung cancer with smoking,” explains Vandespool. She even thought maybe the doctor had grabbed the wrong chart that belonged to another patient, which unfortunately was not the case.
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According to the American Lung Association, there are two main types of lung cancer: small cell and non-small cell lung cancer.
Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC): This cancer is named after the kinds of cells found and how the cells look under a microscope. Small cell lung cancer is mostly associated with cigarette smoking.
Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC): This one makes up 80% of all lung cancer cases. It usually grows and spreads to other parts of the body slower than small cell lung cancer.
Nancy Vandespool is originally from Puerto Rico and fortunately, she has a strong support system here and in Puerto Rico. “There have been three times when I thought I was going to die,” explains Vandespool. “No matter how many people you have around you, you feel alone because you’re the one going through this.”
One of the horrible things about cancer is that it can come back and in her case, she’s had to deal with lung cancer 3 separate times. The first time she was diagnosed in 2009 and she was stage 3, the second time it was three months after deemed in remission, also stage 3, and this time around, almost 5 years later, she’s in stage 4.
“When they say to stop and smell the flowers, you really should because when you’re diagnosed with cancer, you see things differently,” she explains. She’s gone through chemotherapy, radiation, surgery to remove cancerous cells, she’s lost a lot of weight, lost her long beautiful hair—it’s taken a toll on her life. Things that she used to do easily before, now she has to take her time and it’s really difficult.
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LUNG FORCE
She joined forces with LUNG FORCE, which is a movement that is uniting people together against the fight against lung cancer, which is the #1 cancer killer. Every 8 minutes, a woman in the U.S. loses her battle with lung cancer.
“LUNG FORCE is my family now because they were there when I needed to know more about the disease,” explains Vandespool. The organization was part of her support system, which is why she decided to share her story, in order to bring awareness, especially to women.
May 9th is National Women’s Checkup Day and what better way to take control of your own health than by getting screened. Approximately two-thirds of people that are diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. It is estimated that more than 72,000 of American women will lose their lives to lung cancer in 2016, which is a fourth of all female cancer deaths. LUNG FORCE invites you to learn more about lung cancer and join the movement to help spread awareness and prevent any more lung cancer-related deaths.
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